MCF Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

MCF Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 89,496 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,324 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.5% of MCF Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 289,507 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,976,000 after buying an additional 1,901 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in Apple by 3.6% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 583,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $122,802,000 after acquiring an additional 20,160 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,241,000. New England Research & Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 10.9% during the second quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 36,253 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,636,000 after acquiring an additional 3,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.8% in the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 289,575 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,990,000 after acquiring an additional 2,333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s 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 completion of 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $258.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.39%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.