Stablepoint Partners LLC Has $16.87 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stablepoint Partners LLC lowered its holdings 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 firm owned 72,386 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 812 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.1% of Stablepoint Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Stablepoint Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Apple by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Apple by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359,409 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, 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 owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $242.65 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $220.74. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $242.76.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. 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 analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

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.