DF Dent & Co. Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,190 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $227.65 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $241.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

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.