GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 311,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,260 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 4.1% of GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $72,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its position in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its position in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $252.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $237.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Apple Company 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.