Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Lessened by Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,010 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.6% of Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its position in Apple by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,661 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the last quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC now owns 6,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 88,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 16,767 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,907,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Investment Management raised its holdings in Apple by 7.2% during the third quarter. Guardian Investment Management now owns 98,729 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,004,000 after acquiring an additional 6,647 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Moffett Nathanson cut their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Maxim Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. 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 fifty 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 PE ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $240.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. 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.