Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Has $2.06 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,821 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 244 shares during the period. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in 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. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $239.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.57. 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 $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.64.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.