Fruth Investment Management decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,889 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.2% of Fruth Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. DE purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $112,000. Belvedere Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $119,000. Fulcrum Equity Management purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $135,000. Poplar Forest Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $205,000. Finally, S&T Bank PA purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.33% of the company’s stock.
In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 37,394 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.79, for a total value of $9,639,799.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,170,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,788,823.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Atlantic Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. KeyCorp restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Apple currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.36.
NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $318.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 36,447,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,968,880. The stock has a market cap of $1,395.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.86, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $151.74 and a fifty-two week high of $319.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $294.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.54.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $64.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.86 billion. Apple had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple Company Profile
Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, and personal computers. It also sells various related software, services, accessories, and third-party digital content and applications. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and Mac, a line of desktop and portable personal computers, as well as iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS operating systems.
