Profit Investment Management LLC Has $2.12 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Profit Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,078 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 641 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.7% of Profit Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Profit Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory increased its position in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % 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 worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.33 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.81. The business’s fifty day moving average is $229.02 and its 200 day moving average is $219.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.03, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.