Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 475,250 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,859 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 6.8% of Meritage Portfolio Management's portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Apple were worth $110,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. ADE LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.4% in the second quarter. ADE LLC now owns 15,513 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,267,000 after buying an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 35,612 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,263 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $7,006,000 after acquiring an additional 3,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. now owns 16,625 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,502,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI restated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AAPL traded up $1.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $229.98. 68,239,505 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,481,172. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $240.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.