Lakeside Advisors INC. Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lakeside Advisors INC. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 587 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.5% of Lakeside Advisors INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $243.36 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.87. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

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.