Auour Investments LLC Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Auour Investments LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Auour Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.3% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, 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 this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.92, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $239.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.66. 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 results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.64.

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.