Provident Wealth Management LLC Sells 615 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Provident Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,838 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 615 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.3% of Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parker Financial LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 4,543 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,777,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Professional Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,213 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,076 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,321,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,124,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 58.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 240,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.50, for a total value of $41,498,152.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,053 shares in the company, valued at $565,809,142.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 240,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.50, for a total transaction of $41,498,152.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $565,809,142.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 69,785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.00, for a total transaction of $12,351,945.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,697,609. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 444,391 shares of company stock worth $77,370,046. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $189.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.67. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.30. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.17 and a fifty-two week high of $198.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $89.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.34 billion. Apple had a net margin of 25.31% and a return on equity of 160.78%. The company’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 13th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, October 9th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $173.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Apple from $167.00 to $166.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.25.

Apple Company 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.