Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s 7th Largest Position

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 320,842 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,880 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.3% of Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $74,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,335,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,087 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $232.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.92, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $241.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

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.