Tanaka Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Tanaka Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 251 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 13.7% of Tanaka Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Tanaka Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued 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, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

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 stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $236.87 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $240.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.