VitalStone Financial LLC Has $1.77 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

VitalStone Financial LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,611 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 584 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.2% of VitalStone Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. VitalStone Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised 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 worth $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 129,356 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,054 shares during the period. BCGM Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,386,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 215,902 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $37,023,000 after purchasing an additional 25,292 shares during the period. Finally, Significant Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $242.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $229.59 and a 200 day moving average of $220.74. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $242.76. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Insider Activity

In other 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.