Edge Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,372 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Edge Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 191,320 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,372 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 8.9% of Edge Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Edge Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $44,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % 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 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $243.04 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $244.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $230.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.05.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.