Private Harbour Investment Management & Counsel LLC Has $4.81 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Private Harbour Investment Management & Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,632 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 88 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.1% of Private Harbour Investment Management & Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Private Harbour Investment Management & Counsel LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $242.84 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $244.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

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.