Ballast Advisors LLC Has $24.04 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ballast Advisors LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 103,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 11,776 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 7.4% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during 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 period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its stake in Apple by 7.3% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Apple Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $240.18 and a 200-day moving average of $229.95. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.