Hofer & Associates. Inc Sells 158 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hofer & Associates. Inc lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 158 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 3.8% of Hofer & Associates. Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Hofer & Associates. Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Apple by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Apple by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after buying an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Apple by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $248.05 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $254.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $234.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.