Kaye Capital Management Sells 52 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kaye Capital Management lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 52 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.8% of Kaye Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Kaye Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $130,629,000 after buying an additional 17,519 shares during the period. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 171.4% in the 1st quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 42,930 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,362,000 after buying an additional 27,111 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP increased its stake in Apple by 97.3% in the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 157,833 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,065,000 after buying an additional 77,819 shares during the period. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 822,174 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $140,986,000 after buying an additional 10,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.73. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $253.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.