Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC Sells 9,738 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 276,798 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 9,738 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.7% of Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $64,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $258.20 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.77. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $258.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

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.