Great Diamond Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Great Diamond Partners LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,615 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,789 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.4% of Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $252.20 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $237.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $227.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.