Motiv8 Investments LLC Sells 729 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Motiv8 Investments LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,850 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 729 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.1% of Motiv8 Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $255.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $237.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $227.65. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.