Affinity Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Affinity Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,160 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 260 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.1% of Affinity Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Affinity Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its stake in Apple by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 29,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,760,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Oxler Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the third quarter. Oxler Private Wealth LLC now owns 43,023 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,024,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,895,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 1,368,787 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $318,927,000 after purchasing an additional 48,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $3,566,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson decreased 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $242.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $229.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.74. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $242.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % 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 valued at $92,007,745 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.