Oak Asset Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Oak Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 149,863 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,450 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 12.4% of Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $34,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.87 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $227.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 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.