Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 98.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,293 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,243,209 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.7% of Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

AAPL opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.31. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 issued 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Profile

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.