Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,335,564 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 199,735 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 6.0% of Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $1,010,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.47.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Apple
Apple Stock Performance
Apple stock traded down $3.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $255.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 42,297,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,290,680. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $237.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $227.89.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.
Insider Activity
In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About Apple
(
Free Report)
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.
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