Aspiriant LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aspiriant LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 304,551 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,730 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.7% of Aspiriant LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $70,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Trust Point Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 122,232 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,480,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 97,771 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,781,000 after acquiring an additional 13,669 shares during the period. Joule Financial LLC lifted its position in Apple by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 3,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fusion Family Wealth LLC grew its position in Apple by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC now owns 4,340 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.5 %

AAPL opened at $246.49 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $250.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $231.24 and a 200-day moving average of $222.66.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.