Elite Wealth Management Inc. Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elite Wealth Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 215,308 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,482 shares during the period. Apple makes up 6.9% of Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $50,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % 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

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $232.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.95.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

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.