Meritage Portfolio Management Decreases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 475,250 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,859 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.8% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $110,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 893,993 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $208,301,000 after buying an additional 48,053 shares in the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Apple by 106.8% in the third quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 116,344 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,108,000 after acquiring an additional 60,081 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 520,668 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $121,316,000 after acquiring an additional 16,651 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 26,346 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,139,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMB Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMB Wealth Management now owns 19,291 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Three 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’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 $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $240.95 and its 200-day moving average is $230.56. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.