WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 410 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.7% of WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Investments & Financial Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Investments & Financial Planning LLC now owns 2,969 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC now owns 40,174 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,889,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 470,790 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $80,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 26,928 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,618,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $219.23. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.