Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Cut by Round Rock Advisors LLC

Round Rock Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,847 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,314 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 4.7% of Round Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Round Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 22,870.6% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 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. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $228.26 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $240.93 and a 200 day moving average of $230.57.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on 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.