ORG Partners LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

ORG Partners LLC cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 12,838 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.7% of ORG Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its position in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $242.65 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 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 $242.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $229.59 and a 200-day moving average of $220.74.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date 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.