WESCAP Management Group Inc. Sells 4,772 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WESCAP Management Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,772 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.4% of WESCAP Management Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. WESCAP Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James upped their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $241.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.13. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. 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 is currently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.