Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 168,984 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,495 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.8% of GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $39,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc boosted its position in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 289,507 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,901 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 583,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $122,802,000 after buying an additional 20,160 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $5,241,000. New England Research & Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 10.9% during the second quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 36,253 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,636,000 after buying an additional 3,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. raised its position in Apple by 0.8% during the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 289,575 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,990,000 after acquiring an additional 2,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % 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 three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

Apple stock opened at $258.20 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $235.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $226.77. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $258.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.