BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,504 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $239.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.03. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given 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 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.