Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,190,306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,818,885 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.5% of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.05% of Apple worth $1,908,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $232.80 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.89. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.