Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 251,690 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,491 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 7.8% of Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $63,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake 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 worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.88.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $235.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $238.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.93. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.