Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 206,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,575 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.2% of Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $48,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $206,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $235.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.34. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $258.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted 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 given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

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.