Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Hall Laurie J Trustee

Hall Laurie J Trustee reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,942 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 855 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.4% of Hall Laurie J Trustee’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Hall Laurie J Trustee’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $235.06 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $228.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.01.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial boosted 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. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.