Fort L.P. Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fort L.P. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 280 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.7% of Fort L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Fort L.P.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its position in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.3% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $245.00 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $239.15 and a 200 day moving average of $229.33. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. 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 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

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.