Clarius Group LLC Lowers Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clarius Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 140,698 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,246 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 2.3% of Clarius Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $32,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Worth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 23,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,544,000 after buying an additional 4,609 shares during the period. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 105,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $24,548,000 after buying an additional 5,241 shares during the period. CCM Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 131,655 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,676,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the period. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 137,973 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $32,148,000 after buying an additional 2,654 shares during the period. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 348,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $81,269,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Maxim Group upped their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $234.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. 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’s 50 day moving average is $228.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.