D.B. Root & Company LLC Has $10.13 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

D.B. Root & Company LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,471 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,233 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 3.3% of D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 7.3% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid 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 dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.