Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Sells 141,196 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 935,899 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 141,196 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 15.6% of Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $197,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 2.7% during the second 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 last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $876,000. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 920,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $193,926,000 after buying an additional 8,028 shares during the period. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at about $80,057,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $226.96 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.33, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $226.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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 revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.