Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 365,668 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,028 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 7.5% of Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Apple were worth $85,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in Apple by 13.4% during 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $243.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $238.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.69.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.