Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Pacific Sage Partners LLC

Pacific Sage Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of Pacific Sage Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Pacific Sage Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359,409 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $243.85 on Friday. 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 moving average price is $238.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, 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 $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. 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 business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

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.