Mengis Capital Management Inc. Sells 6,602 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mengis Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,006 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,602 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 7.8% of Mengis Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Mengis Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $39,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during 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 buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted 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 worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 34,486,195 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,035,283,000 after acquiring an additional 432,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.79. 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 capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.