Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Aldebaran Financial Inc.

Aldebaran Financial Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,312 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 331 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 8.4% of Aldebaran Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Aldebaran Financial Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Apple by 9.4% in the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 3,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 56,230 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,101,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $2,013,000. Unigestion Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Apple by 358.2% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 200,231 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,652,000 after purchasing an additional 156,535 shares during the period. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 24,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,824,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $244.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.41.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.