Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Alpha Cubed Investments LLC

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 662,801 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 45,066 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 6.9% of Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $154,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson dropped their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $229.87 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $227.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.30.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.