Defender Capital LLC. Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Defender Capital LLC. lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,195 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 598 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 0.6% of Defender Capital LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Defender Capital LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $588,952,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. 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 has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, 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 $253.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $233.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $224.73.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

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.