Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Trimmed by Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,115 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 9,141 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.2% of Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 20,008,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,214,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,526,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,848 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $248.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $250.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.78.

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.