Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is KPP Advisory Services LLC’s 4th Largest Position

KPP Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,399 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 794 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.4% of KPP Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,248,000. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 32,444 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,250,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Paragon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 7,128 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,661,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 7,192,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,675,842,000 after purchasing an additional 870,556 shares during the period. Finally, TSA Wealth Managment LLC lifted its position in Apple by 5.7% during the third quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 5,268 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.72. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.