Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Grimes & Company Inc.

Grimes & Company Inc. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 487,634 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 13,351 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.1% of Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $113,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 2.4% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $130,629,000 after acquiring an additional 17,519 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.7% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 991,643 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $170,047,000 after purchasing an additional 119,866 shares in the last quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC increased its position in Apple by 6.6% during the first quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC now owns 12,707 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,179,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 0.8% during the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 49,814 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,470,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 2,568,133 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $440,383,000 after buying an additional 29,162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $254.49 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.70. 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 one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % 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, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.