Choice Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Choice Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,749 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 301 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 4.3% of Choice Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Choice Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial & Tax Architects LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 17.1% during the second quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 9,392 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares in the last quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 10,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 306,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $64,636,000 after buying an additional 73,629 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,996,000. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 39,235 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,264,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $235.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $238.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.93.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Maxim Group upped their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.88.

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.