Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Lowers Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 965 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Apple by 27.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,870,795,000 after buying an additional 14,651,321 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $278.63 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $280.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $263.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.72. The company has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Melius Research set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, October 31st. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.