Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Berkshire Hathaway Inc lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 25.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 300,000,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100,000,000 shares during the period. Apple makes up 26.2% of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $69,900,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,331,000. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.6% in the second quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 15,304 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Fonville Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 12.0% in the second quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,609,000 after purchasing an additional 2,339 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 1,342,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $282,764,000 after purchasing an additional 17,842 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 147,028 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $30,967,000 after purchasing an additional 2,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.63 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.97. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.