Advocate Group LLC Has $11.13 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Advocate Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,784 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,056 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.0% of Advocate Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in Apple by 6.7% in 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. acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $209,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

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.