Vantage Investment Partners LLC Sells 46,891 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vantage Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 171,865 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 46,891 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.4% of Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $40,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its holdings in Apple by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued 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, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.98 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $241.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

About Apple

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.