Stiles Financial Services Inc Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stiles Financial Services Inc lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,247 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 571 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.9% of Stiles Financial Services Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd 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 period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade 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 Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.40 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.36. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.