Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Sells 10,154 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 118,287 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 10,154 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.5% of Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baker Boyer National Bank grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,695,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 5,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the second quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shariaportfolio Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the second quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 3,999 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two 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 data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’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 transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $273.33 on Thursday. 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $254.61 and its 200 day moving average is $226.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.08.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.92%.

About Apple

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.