Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Founders Capital Management

Founders Capital Management cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,547 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,292 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 5.6% of Founders Capital Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Founders Capital Management's holdings in Apple were worth $9,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.35 on Friday, hitting $229.87. 38,168,252 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 43,855,068. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. 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 fifty day moving average price of $227.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $218.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple 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.