Western Financial Corp CA Has $1.01 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Western Financial Corp CA lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,330 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $130,629,000 after acquiring an additional 17,519 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.8% in the 1st 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 during the period. BOKF NA lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,977 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $251.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $233.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $224.30. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $251.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap 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.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.