Comerica Bank Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Comerica Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,941,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100,000 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 3.5% of Comerica Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Apple were worth $830,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $876,000. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 920,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $193,926,000 after purchasing an additional 8,028 shares during the period. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $80,057,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $225.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $226.75 and its 200-day moving average is $215.45. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.