Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by West Oak Capital LLC

West Oak Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 26,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,334 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.7% of West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $58,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Melius boosted their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.92.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $271.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.39, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $269.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.57. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 164.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.92%.

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.