Marco Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Marco Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 277,146 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,993 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 5.6% of Marco Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 22,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,000 after purchasing an additional 3,366 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 317,612 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,004,000 after purchasing an additional 30,434 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 73,567 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224 shares during the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 82,293 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,174,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 202,442 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $47,169,000 after purchasing an additional 4,306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.00 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $241.68 and its 200 day moving average is $230.84.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.