Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Cut by Headinvest LLC

Headinvest LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 59,959 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,404 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.0% of Headinvest LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Headinvest LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 42.8% in the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 299,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,993,000 after buying an additional 89,865 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 35.7% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 25,608 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,501,000 after purchasing an additional 6,735 shares in the last quarter. Callan Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% during the second quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 85,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares in the last quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 151,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,978,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $563,000. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. UBS Group set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $153.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.24.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $155.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $179.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $146.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.05). Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. The business had revenue of $117.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.62%.

About Apple

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.