3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Has $12.79 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,534 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.9% of 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $227.04 and its 200 day moving average is $215.96. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.51.

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.