Mutual Advisors LLC Sells 18,426 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mutual Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 657,532 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 18,426 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 4.4% of Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $150,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Echo45 Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Echo45 Advisors LLC now owns 9,093 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 62,732 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,709,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 106,259 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,609,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Independent Wealth Network Inc. increased its position in Apple by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 21,617 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,413,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.22.

Apple Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $209.68 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $235.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.83. 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 $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.