Echo45 Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Echo45 Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,822 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 547 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.3% of Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 163,435 shares of company stock valued at $39,376,002 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $250.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $238.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $228.43. 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 $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.