PAX Financial Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

PAX Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 43.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,844 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,458 shares during the quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.09.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $278.78 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $288.62. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $266.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $234.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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