Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Aristides Capital LLC

Aristides Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 69.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,600 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $227.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.