Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Private Wealth Advisors LLC

Private Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,003 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. Private Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 20,372.7% in 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 34,486,195 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,035,283,000 after purchasing an additional 432,140 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

AAPL opened at $229.98 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $241.01 and a 200-day moving average of $230.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents 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.