Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Castleview Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Castleview Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,116 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,476 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.2% of Castleview Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Castleview Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 158.3% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,067,379 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after purchasing an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $248.13 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $250.80. The company has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $232.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $223.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Apple Company 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.