Granger Management LLC Sells 20,322 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Granger Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 94.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 20,322 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.1% of Granger Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Granger Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $288,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its position in shares of Apple by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Maxim Group lifted their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.22.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $209.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.