Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is S.A. Mason LLC’s 6th Largest Position

S.A. Mason LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,478 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.8% of S.A. Mason LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 164,452 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $38,317,000 after acquiring an additional 9,507 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 232,665 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $54,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Finally, Fiducient Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 23,799 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,545,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson cut their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $250.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.58. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 163,435 shares of company stock valued at $39,376,002 in the last 90 days. 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.