First Personal Financial Services Sells 727 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Personal Financial Services lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 727 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.7% of First Personal Financial Services’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. First Personal Financial Services’ holdings in Apple were worth $8,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the period. Unique Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 8.5% in the second quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 19,553 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners lifted its position in Apple by 0.6% during the second quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 19,335 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,072,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in Apple by 19.3% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 232,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $47,865,000 after buying an additional 37,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 538,410 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $113,400,000 after acquiring an additional 15,399 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 document filed 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 dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.87 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.52. 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 $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.12, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine 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 data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

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.