Guinness Asset Management LTD Sells 2,330 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Guinness Asset Management LTD lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 119,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,330 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bluestem Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5,935.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bluestem Financial Advisors LLC now owns 233,803 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 229,929 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its stake in Apple by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Ramsey Quantitative Systems bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, Newfound Research LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $67,000. Institutional investors own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Apple from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 28th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Apple from $160.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 7th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Apple from $189.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Apple from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 20,200 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.72, for a total transaction of $3,004,144.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,505 shares in the company, valued at $4,685,423.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 20,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.72, for a total value of $3,004,144.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,505 shares in the company, valued at $4,685,423.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 176,299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.95, for a total value of $27,493,829.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,673 shares in the company, valued at $17,259,454.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $137.87 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.17 and a 12 month high of $179.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The iPhone maker reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $90.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.77 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.90% and a net margin of 25.31%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.19 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 4th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.06%.

Apple Profile

(Get Rating)

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. In addition, 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.