Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by TCTC Holdings LLC

TCTC Holdings LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 335,012 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,436 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.6% of TCTC Holdings LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. TCTC Holdings LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $78,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Apple by 14.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after buying an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.87 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.12, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.52.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

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.