Westside Investment Management Inc. Sells 903 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Westside Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,003 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 903 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.3% of Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, 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 Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $244.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.41.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results 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 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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