Gouws Capital LLC Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gouws Capital LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,193 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.8% of Gouws Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd 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 period. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.14.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $223.66 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.77.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, 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. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Company 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.