Armor Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Armor Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in Apple by 14.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $236.85 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $240.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.