Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 2,907 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 75,388 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,907 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the period. LPF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 4.5% in the second quarter. LPF Advisors LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.5% in the second quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 71,138 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 11.9% during the second quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 102,149 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,515,000 after purchasing an additional 10,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the second quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 19,618 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Maxim Group upped their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $243.85 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $238.41 and a 200-day moving average of $228.58.

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, beating 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given 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 yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.