Madden Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Madden Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,979 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 255 shares during the quarter. Madden Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $239.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.66. 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 $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.