Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Vance Wealth Inc.

Vance Wealth Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,590 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 212 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.5% of Vance Wealth Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Vance Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Loop Capital lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $238.26 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 fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $240.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.