Commons Capital LLC Sells 829 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Commons Capital LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 1.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 829 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 9.7% of Commons Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Commons Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 42.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 299,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,993,000 after purchasing an additional 89,865 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 35.7% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 25,608 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,501,000 after buying an additional 6,735 shares in the last quarter. Callan Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the second quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 85,226 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,652,000 after buying an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 151,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,978,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acute Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 212.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acute Investment Advisory LLC now owns 11,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares during the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $125.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $160.00 target price on Apple in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Apple from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.24.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $150.47 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.17 and a 52 week high of $179.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $144.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple Profile

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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.