Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Holdings Cut by Aviance Capital Partners LLC

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 265,410 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,984 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 7.1% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $54,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in 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. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 14.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $286.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.31, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $264.45 and a 200 day moving average of $232.89. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $287.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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