Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Palouse Capital Management Inc.

Palouse Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.7% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Up 1.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $233.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.30. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $251.38. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.29, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup lifted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related 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 value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.