Symmetry Partners LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Symmetry Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 41.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,188 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 42,523 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 3.4% of Symmetry Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Symmetry Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 8.6% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 33,157 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,984,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the second quarter. Asset Management Advisors LLC now owns 45,736 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,633,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 4.0% in the second quarter. Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 52,874 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,136,000 after acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 46,704 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,837,000 after acquiring an additional 5,947 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.03.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $243.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.87. 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 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.