Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Dillon & Associates Inc.

Dillon & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 280,371 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,835 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 9.2% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $65,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. RPG Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 135,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $31,655,000 after buying an additional 2,684 shares during the period. Carrera Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Apple by 30.2% during the third quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 10,367 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,415,000 after acquiring an additional 2,405 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,160,676 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,600,438,000 after acquiring an additional 133,736 shares during the period. Barnett & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the third quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 4,822 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 21.2% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 747,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $174,136,000 after purchasing an additional 130,860 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.79. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents 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 company insiders.

Apple Company 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.