Mechanics Financial Corp Has $13.84 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mechanics Financial Corp cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,415 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,984 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 6.1% of Mechanics Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Mechanics Financial Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the third quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC now owns 20,320 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after buying an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,361 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its position in Apple by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 11,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 1,932,077 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $450,174,000 after acquiring an additional 47,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,507 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,244,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $253.00 price target (down previously from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.4 %

AAPL opened at $222.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 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. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.69.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.