Sowa Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sowa Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 117,113 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,462 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 17.2% of Sowa Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Sowa Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after acquiring an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 161.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $834,368,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $237.33 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.81. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $229.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. 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 issued 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. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.