Adero Partners LLC Has $28.89 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Adero Partners LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 123,989 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,096 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.9% of Adero Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Adero Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second 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. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Apple by 22,870.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Apple by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 target price (down from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.78 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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 period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % 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.

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.