Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management Sells 7,297 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,093 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,297 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.8% of Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its position in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $228.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $218.64. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value 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. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Company 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.