Pacifica Partners Inc. Sells 764 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pacifica Partners Inc. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,640 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 764 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 6.0% of Pacifica Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Pacifica Partners Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 18,925 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,245,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 242,164 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $41,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,585 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 567.9% in the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 1,069,412 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $183,383,000 after purchasing an additional 909,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 346,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,427,000 after acquiring an additional 10,204 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.87 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $227.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.