Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC

Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,272 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 0.5% of Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Addison Capital Co increased its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the first quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 27,345 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. SP Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 193,732 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 553,963 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $94,994,000 after purchasing an additional 16,694 shares during the period. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 850,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $145,781,000 after buying an additional 16,495 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $243.04 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $244.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $230.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.