Peak Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Peak Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 120,972 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,359 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.3% of Peak Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Peak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,361 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 52,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,144,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Busey Bank increased its stake in Apple by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 1,025,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $216,033,000 after buying an additional 7,805 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank increased its stake in Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 83,106 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,504,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the period. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME increased its stake in Apple by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 30,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,361,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, 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. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.02.

Apple Trading Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $241.12 and its 200-day moving average is $230.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

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.