Old West Investment Management LLC Sells 500 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Old West Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.1% of Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.4% in the third quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.4% during the third quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 79,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,623,000 after buying an additional 6,857 shares in the last quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC raised its position in Apple by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC now owns 26,042 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,068,000 after buying an additional 5,254 shares during the last quarter. Wisconsin Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wisconsin Capital Management LLC now owns 47,651 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Security Advisor Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 55,599 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,955,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $236.85 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.95. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. 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.