Financial Advisory Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Advisory Partners LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 365 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,368,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned 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, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $228.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G 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.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.