Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Sells 273 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,756 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Apple by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after acquiring an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Apple by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. BCU Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. BCU Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Etfidea LLC boosted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 15,853 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westchester Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Westchester Capital Management Inc. now owns 175,926 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,168,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $228.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.12. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp lowered 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, Citigroup increased their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple 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.