Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Nikulski Financial Inc.

Nikulski Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 79,106 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 447 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 5.5% of Nikulski Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Nikulski Financial Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % 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, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 163,435 shares of company stock worth $39,376,002 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

Apple stock opened at $250.42 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $238.41 and its 200-day moving average is $228.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current 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 given 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 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.