Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by National Wealth Management Group LLC

National Wealth Management Group LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.2% of National Wealth Management Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. National Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.1% during the third quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 77,656 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 4,604,031 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,072,739,000 after purchasing an additional 82,680 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 46,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,933,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Apple by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 194,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $45,348,000 after purchasing an additional 55,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WorthPointe LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the third quarter. WorthPointe LLC now owns 16,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,891,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target 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 issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This 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

Shares of AAPL opened at $232.80 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $241.58 and its 200-day moving average is $230.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors 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 yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.