Bellwether Advisors LLC Sells 15,939 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bellwether Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 65.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,410 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,939 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Apple by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 35.6% during the 2nd quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 51,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,951,000 after purchasing an additional 13,638 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,069 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,438,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 106,350 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,400,000 after purchasing an additional 3,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Apple by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 39,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,269,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $239.36 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $241.17 and its 200 day moving average is $230.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.