Rakuten Securities Inc. Sells 1,307 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rakuten Securities Inc. reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,199 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,307 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.5% of Rakuten Securities Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $3,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $239.85.

Apple Trading Up 0.8 %

AAPL stock traded up $1.72 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $229.98. The stock had a trading volume of 68,239,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,481,172. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Apple's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

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.