Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 4,481 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,338,050 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,481 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.9% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Apple were worth $311,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position 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 valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second 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 increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 163,435 shares of company stock worth $39,376,002. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AAPL traded down $1.78 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $250.42. 39,460,684 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,133,910. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $238.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.58. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush boosted their price target 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.47.

Apple Company 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.