Hodges Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,713 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 802 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.2% of Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $232.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $241.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.20. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two 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 firm has a market cap of $3.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple 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 transaction 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 $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.