Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC Has $18.23 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,227 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 520 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 8.8% of Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third 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 buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $241.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $240.70 and its 200 day moving average is $231.34.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. 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.