Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Trimmed by Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 608,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 16,462 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 10.4% of Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $141,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Independent Family Office LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Independent Family Office LLC now owns 6,529 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,120,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,007 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after buying an additional 1,860 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 299,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $51,434,000 after buying an additional 5,431 shares during the period. Finally, Forbes Financial Planning Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Forbes Financial Planning Inc. now owns 22,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $227.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $217.00. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.