Fiera Capital Corp Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fiera Capital Corp lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,626 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 420 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Triune Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $228,000. Sonata Capital Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sonata Capital Group Inc. now owns 45,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,677,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. increased its stake in Apple by 1.6% in the third quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 27,257 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,351,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. SFG Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the third quarter. SFG Wealth Management LLC. now owns 13,727 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,198,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the third quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 66,025 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,384,000 after buying an additional 2,636 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $234.40 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $240.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 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.