Allied Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Allied Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,730 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 769 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.8% of Allied Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Allied Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Apple by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,061,296,000 after purchasing an additional 485,873 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $229.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.40. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

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.