Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Bluesphere Advisors LLC

Bluesphere Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,242 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 639 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.6% of Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $130,629,000 after purchasing an additional 17,519 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 9.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,464,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $422,527,000 after purchasing an additional 220,502 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its position in Apple by 2.2% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 939,572 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $159,755,000 after purchasing an additional 20,499 shares during the period. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the first quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 138,900 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,819,000 after buying an additional 1,977 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup upped their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.2 %

Apple stock opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $251.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $233.09 and a 200-day moving average of $224.30.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. 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 company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by 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.