Crescent Sterling Ltd. Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Crescent Sterling Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,311 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 363 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.4% of Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its position in Apple by 15.2% in the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 149,219 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,768,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.84 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $244.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $230.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.05.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Maxim Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

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.