Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Edgewood Management LLC

Edgewood Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 237,797 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,054 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 0.1% of Edgewood Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Edgewood Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $55,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Raymond James boosted their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $237.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $241.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.