Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Sells 2,950 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 76.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 930 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,950 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.02.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $241.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.85. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.