Breakwater Capital Group Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Breakwater Capital Group cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 85,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 816 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.0% of Breakwater Capital Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Breakwater Capital Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $229.00 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $227.47 and a 200 day moving average of $217.40. 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 capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Apple Company 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.