Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Affiance Financial LLC

Affiance Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,977 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 283 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.9% of Affiance Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Affiance Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 37.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 278,379 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $47,736,000 after purchasing an additional 75,939 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 3,199.9% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,666,108 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $285,704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,618 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.9% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 1,010,341 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $173,253,000 after buying an additional 73,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co increased its stake in Apple by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 465,766 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $79,870,000 after buying an additional 32,639 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value 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 $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $240.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

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.