Ballast Advisors LLC Has $24.04 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ballast Advisors LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 103,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 11,776 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 7.4% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. New Perspectives Inc raised its position in Apple by 0.8% during the second quarter. New Perspectives Inc now owns 12,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,654,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 38,077 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,020,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 55,203 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,627,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 12,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,662,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.95.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share 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 $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.