Spearhead Capital Advisors LLC Sells 116,828 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Spearhead Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 85.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,659 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 116,828 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.9% of Spearhead Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Spearhead Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Robinson Value Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 75.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Bluestem Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5,935.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bluestem Financial Advisors LLC now owns 233,803 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 229,929 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its holdings in Apple by 21.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ramsey Quantitative Systems acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Apple from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Apple from $153.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Fundamental Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Apple in a research note on Sunday. They set a “buy” rating and a $199.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $167.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.94.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $151.60 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $179.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.05). Apple had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 163.45%. The business had revenue of $117.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.62%.

About Apple

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.