Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 1.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 62,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 931 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.3% of Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory increased its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.
Apple Trading Up 1.2 %
Shares of Apple stock opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. 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 cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.29, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $251.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $233.09 and a 200-day moving average of $224.30.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.
Apple Dividend Announcement
The company 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.
Insider Transactions at Apple
In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction 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 approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
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.
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