Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Lowered by Whitener Capital Management Inc.

Whitener Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 110,023 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,783 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 7.3% of Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Latko Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,154,000. Prosperitas Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.0% during the third quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 48,491 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,298,000 after buying an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.1% during the third quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,749 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,573,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 16.3% in the third quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 105,173 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $24,505,000 after buying an additional 14,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 83,575 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $19,473,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $245.00 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $239.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.33. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.