New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC Sells 59 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 0.9% of New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,595 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,401,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 534,795 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $124,607,000 after purchasing an additional 48,327 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,089,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Old North State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 99.2% in the third quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,050 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,309,000 after buying an additional 13,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 168.1% during the third quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC now owns 8,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after buying an additional 5,316 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.64.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $242.21 on Wednesday. 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 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $239.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.