Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Aurora Investment Managers LLC.

Aurora Investment Managers LLC. lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,182 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 713 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.8% of Aurora Investment Managers LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Aurora Investment Managers LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased 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 buying an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after buying an additional 19,670 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $247.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $230.80 and a 200-day moving average of $222.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $248.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. 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 previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. 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.