Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,735 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.6% of Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $588,952,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, 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 value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $254.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $234.97 and a 200 day moving average of $225.48. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $255.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.