Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s Largest Position

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 34,626 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 4.0% of Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $227.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.03. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.15. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.6 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.23.

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.