Peirce Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Peirce Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 27.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,540 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 580 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 0.2% of Peirce Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Peirce Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 200,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,650,000 after buying an additional 51,842 shares during the period. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after buying an additional 19,352 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.12.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

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.