Alerus Financial NA Has $56.12 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Alerus Financial NA cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 240,849 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,627 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 4.1% of Alerus Financial NA’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Apple were worth $56,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,426 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $2,896,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,813,000. B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,921,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $331,873,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % 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 insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $227.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $241.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.97. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.