Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Has $71.01 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 304,777 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 16,323 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.5% of Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $71,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $243.36 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $238.68 and its 200-day moving average is $228.69.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.03.

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.