Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,416 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 9.2% of Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gemmer Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 20.9% during the third quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 52,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,151,000 after buying an additional 9,013 shares in the last quarter. Family Investment Center Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 7.2% in the third quarter. Family Investment Center Inc. now owns 9,970 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,323,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co raised its stake in Apple by 5.2% in the third quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 51,707 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,048,000 after purchasing an additional 2,554 shares in the last quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 6.8% in the third quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 38,043 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 123.4% during the third quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,605 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,963 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $255.59 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $237.41 and a 200 day moving average of $227.79. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.04, a PEG 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

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.