J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,888 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 366 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.9% of J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $42,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $234.40 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $240.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.