Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Cut by St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,879 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,103 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.5% of St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 98.2% in the third quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 45,416 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,582,000 after acquiring an additional 22,502 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Apple by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 1,305,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $304,065,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 184,977 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $43,100,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,484 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,142,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWC Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $5,757,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Maxim Group lifted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson cut their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 1.1 %

Apple stock opened at $258.20 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $258.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $235.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.