Lazari Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,711 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,748 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,711 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 14.7% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Lazari Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $34,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $588,952,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value 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 $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $4.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $254.49. 145,580,875 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,671,145. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.00. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $234.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $236.78.

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.