Delta Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,289 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,296 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.9% of Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup increased their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.98 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $241.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.