Leuthold Group LLC Sells 16,715 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Leuthold Group LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 76,886 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 16,715 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.0% of Leuthold Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

Apple stock opened at $255.59 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.41 and a 200-day moving average of $227.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.04, 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, 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned 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 an average target price of $237.47.

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.