Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Sells 200,000 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 785,700 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 200,000 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.0% of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $183,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Trading Down 4.0 %

AAPL stock opened at $228.26 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $240.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.57. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.