Auxier Asset Management Has $6.40 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Auxier Asset Management trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,495 shares during the quarter. Auxier Asset Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple 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 value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, 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 this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, 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. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $233.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $241.49 and a 200-day moving average of $230.96. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

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.