Western Financial Corp CA Has $845,000 Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Western Financial Corp CA reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,119 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Apple were worth $845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the second quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 209.2% in the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. CLSA upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $245.27 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $237.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 $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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value 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. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.