SOL Capital Management CO Has $21.86 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SOL Capital Management CO decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,813 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,283 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.4% of SOL Capital Management CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Apple were worth $21,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd 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 valued at $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $254.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $255.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $234.97 and its 200 day moving average is $225.48.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.