MCF Advisors LLC Sells 634 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

MCF Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,862 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 634 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.6% of MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.88.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $220.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $236.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.12. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.