Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. Sells 1,245 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 83,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,245 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 8.2% of Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 6.7% during 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,214,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359,409 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays cut their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $254.49 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $234.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.70. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $255.00.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.