Capital Square LLC Sells 204 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Square LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,532 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 204 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.1% of Capital Square LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $228.01 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 business’s 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 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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

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.