Albert D Mason Inc. Has $1.62 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Albert D Mason Inc. reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,931 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 372,795 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $86,861,000 after purchasing an additional 5,683 shares in the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the third quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $64,492,000 after buying an additional 6,711 shares during the last quarter. Blossom Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 12,243 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,853,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,279,719 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $531,166,000 after purchasing an additional 28,488 shares during the period. Finally, Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.4% in the third quarter. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. now owns 4,821 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $249.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $254.28. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $234.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $225.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.