Clear Investment Research LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Clear Investment Research LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,583 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 242 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 3.8% of Clear Investment Research LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Clear Investment Research LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. IFG Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 165,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052 shares during the last quarter. Elite Life Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.1% in the second quarter. Elite Life Management LLC now owns 6,212 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. FWG Investments LLC. bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,253,000. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 6.0% during the second quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,956 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,917,000 after acquiring an additional 3,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 375,345 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,010,000 after purchasing an additional 36,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note 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 issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.5%

Apple stock opened at $283.10 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $263.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $232.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $4.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.96, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $283.42.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 13.92%.

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.