Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Sells 1,593 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 148,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,593 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.6% of Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $37,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Raymond James Financial set a $380.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $365.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $260.00 to $366.00 in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.71.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly launching a new device leasing program with Klarna, a major change to how it sells hardware that could support upgrade demand and recurring device sales. Reuters: Apple to launch ‘Upgrade’ device leasing program to spur sales, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC upgraded Apple, saying it is entering a powerful new upgrade cycle supported by AI and a strong hardware roadmap. Barchart: HSBC Says Apple Is Entering a Powerful New Upgrade Cycle
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators highlighted Apple’s pricing power, strong installed base, and relative insulation from the AI capex arms race as reasons investors are favoring AAPL over some other mega-cap tech names. MarketBeat: Apple Stock Sends Major Warning Signal as Momentum Hits Peak

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $327.74 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $304.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $201.50 and a one year high of $334.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total transaction of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.