PFS Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

PFS Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,590 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.9% of PFS Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. PFS Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter valued at $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This 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 the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.12, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $240.63 and its 200 day moving average is $230.52. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

About Apple

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.