Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,542,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,730 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.1% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $359,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS increased its position in shares of Apple by 7.6% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 73,945 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,229,000 after acquiring an additional 5,231 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the third quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 5,831 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL increased its position in shares of Apple by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 24,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 54,499 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, 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 owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $244.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.59.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.