Bellwether Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bellwether Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 65.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,410 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,939 shares during the quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in Apple by 22,870.6% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,250 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter worth about $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Apple by 14.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,496,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416,922 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $239.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $241.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.75.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

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.