Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Argent Capital Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Argent Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 673,706 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,564 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.3% of Argent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $156,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its position in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $254.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $255.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $234.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company 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%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid 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 yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple 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.