State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,362,038 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 29,989 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 5.1% of State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,249,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its position in Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents 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.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Company 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.