Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Lessened by Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co.

Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,250 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $255.59 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.04, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $237.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $227.79. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

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.