Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Has $126.81 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 544,235 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,994 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 11.1% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $126,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 6,292 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 102,096 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,503,000 after purchasing an additional 2,078 shares during the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,449 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 3,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 30,715 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.14.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $223.66 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.77. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade 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.

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.