Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Castleark Management LLC

Castleark Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 393,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 210,435 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 2.4% of Castleark Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $80,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $38,942,255,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total value of $1,017,654.96. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,030.54. The trade was a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction 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 approximately $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. 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 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.51.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $278.28 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $288.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $268.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Apple Company 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.