Berkshire Hathaway Inc Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 25.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 300,000,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100,000,000 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 26.2% of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Berkshire Hathaway Inc owned about 1.98% of Apple worth $69,900,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.63 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.97. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.13, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

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.