Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,593 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.2% of Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $206,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.87 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.