Sentinel Trust Co. LBA Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sentinel Trust Co. LBA reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 95,429 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,446 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.1% of Sentinel Trust Co. LBA’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Sentinel Trust Co. LBA’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 55,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,365,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its position in Apple by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 37,877 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,771,000 after acquiring an additional 3,403 shares in the last quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. BIP Alliance LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. BIP Alliance LLC now owns 11,856 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,432,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brian Low Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $3,520,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.2%

AAPL opened at $277.55 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $280.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $4.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $261.82 and its 200 day moving average is $230.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Melius Research set a $345.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, October 27th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.22.

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.