Court Place Advisors LLC Sells 944 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Court Place Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,370 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 944 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.7% of Court Place Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 203,435 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,847,000 after acquiring an additional 17,617 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,701,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5,126.6% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 67,684 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,671,000 after purchasing an additional 66,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BancFirst Trust & Investment Management boosted its holdings in Apple by 22.4% in the second quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 2,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $258.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $235.45 and a 200 day moving average of $226.34. 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 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $258.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.