Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Forum Financial Management LP

Forum Financial Management LP lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 312,054 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,360 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.0% of Forum Financial Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $271.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $259.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.13. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $279.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.