Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 36,184 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,232 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.1% of Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 22,870.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.64.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. 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 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $239.57 and a 200-day moving average of $229.66. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.92, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. 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 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.