Your Advocates Ltd. LLP Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Your Advocates Ltd. LLP reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,758 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 354 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 0.5% of Your Advocates Ltd. LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised 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 worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.2% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

AAPL opened at $250.42 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $238.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $228.43. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.19, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. 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 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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 owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 163,435 shares of company stock valued at $39,376,002. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

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.