Sage Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sage Advisors LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 40.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,697 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 18,359 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.9% of Sage Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Sage Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Argus set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president 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 is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 224,300 shares of company stock valued at $57,586,933. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $275.25 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $253.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.75. The stock has a market cap of $4.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.08. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $277.32. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 is currently 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.