Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 76.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 930 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,950 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Apple were worth $217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. raised its position in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction 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 approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.02.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $241.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.85. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 0.45%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.