Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Winch Advisory Services LLC

Winch Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 121,460 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,004 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.8% of Winch Advisory Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $588,952,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $253.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $233.64 and a 200 day moving average of $224.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.