VitalStone Financial LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

VitalStone Financial LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,611 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 584 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.2% of VitalStone Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. VitalStone Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $242.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $229.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $242.76. 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, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.