William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc Has $2.05 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 64 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.8% of William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 12.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,933 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 120,926 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $28,176,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125 shares during the period. Pursue Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pursue Wealth Partners LLC now owns 34,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after acquiring an additional 7,434 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 11.8% in the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 202,881 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $47,271,000 after acquiring an additional 21,439 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in Apple by 1.6% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 810,798 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $188,916,000 after purchasing an additional 13,003 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Apple Stock Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $243.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $238.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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