Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,203 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 619 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.6% of Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its position in Apple by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Wedbush increased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.03.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $243.36 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $238.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $228.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.03, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.