Gould Capital LLC Has $5.28 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gould Capital LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,671 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 472 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 3.5% of Gould Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Gould Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

AAPL opened at $241.53 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $240.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.34, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.