Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Cut by Advocate Group LLC

Advocate Group LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 47,784 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,056 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.0% of Advocate Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Apple by 127.4% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after acquiring an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Lutz Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. BCU Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. BCU Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Etfidea LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 15,853 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Westchester Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Westchester Capital Management Inc. now owns 175,926 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $30,168,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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 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 transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $234.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $228.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $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 (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 analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple 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.