Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Has $1.77 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at about $2,000,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 28,470 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management now owns 50,485 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,763,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Leading Edge Financial Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Leading Edge Financial Planning LLC now owns 2,640 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.7% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 53,630 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,496,000 after purchasing an additional 2,420 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $255.27 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $234.97 and its 200 day moving average is $225.91. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $255.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.