Clarus Wealth Advisors Has $8.17 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clarus Wealth Advisors cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,873 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 741 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.2% of Clarus Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Clarus Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $8,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple 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 directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents 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 worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $228.71 and a 200 day moving average of $219.12.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

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.