Probity Advisors Inc. Sells 189 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Probity Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,423 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its position in shares of Apple by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $242.84 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $230.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.83. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $244.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson cut their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.