Ulland Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ulland Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,055 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 332 shares during the period. Apple comprises 6.0% of Ulland Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after buying an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after buying an additional 2,359,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $243.01 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $229.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.90. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $244.11.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company 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%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.