Hassell Wealth Management LLC Decreases Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Hassell Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,730 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 430 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 0.1% of Hassell Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Hassell Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Apple by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in Apple by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $268.47 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $277.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.71. The company has a market cap of $3.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 224,300 shares of company stock valued at $57,586,933 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $279.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

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.