Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,847 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,149 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.8% of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $254.49 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $234.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $225.70. 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 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $255.00. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.