Mizuho Securities USA LLC Lowers Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 95.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,690 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,057,688 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,302,607,000 after buying an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Apple by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after buying an additional 3,416,922 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $223.66 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $241.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.77. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio 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.