Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC Has $877,000 Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,766 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC now owns 33,899 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,899,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 80.0% during the third quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 24,265 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,654,000 after buying an additional 10,784 shares in the last quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,938 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,248,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its stake in Apple by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after acquiring an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Apple by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 404,599 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $94,272,000 after acquiring an additional 33,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $237.33 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $229.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.02. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current 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 given 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.