Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s Largest Position

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 247,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 6.8% of NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s holdings in Apple were worth $57,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 35,109 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,180,000 after buying an additional 7,196 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 2.3% during the third quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,894 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 102,466 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,356,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in Apple by 5.7% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 893,993 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $208,301,000 after acquiring an additional 48,053 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.56. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. 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 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Maxim Group raised their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.