Sowell Financial Services LLC Has $93.82 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sowell Financial Services LLC decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 402,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 591 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 4.4% of Sowell Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $93,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.8% during the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,374 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Chemung Canal Trust Co. increased its holdings in Apple by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 58,152 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,549,000 after buying an additional 16,746 shares during the period. MRA Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 22,619 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,270,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of Apple by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 160,653 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $37,432,000 after acquiring an additional 11,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 187.4% in the third quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 33,363 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,773,000 after acquiring an additional 21,755 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $229.00 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $227.47 and a 200-day moving average of $217.40. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple 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.