LGT Financial Advisors LLC Sells 1,427 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LGT Financial Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,189 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,427 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.6% of LGT Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. LGT Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in Apple by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Apple to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 2.4 %

Apple stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $240.18 and a 200-day moving average of $229.95. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’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 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple Company 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.