Echo45 Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Echo45 Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,822 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.3% of Echo45 Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 163,435 shares of company stock worth $39,376,002 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.47.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

AAPL opened at $250.42 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $238.02 and its 200 day moving average is $228.43.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.