Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. Sells 1,594 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,978 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,594 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 7.8% of Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $834,368,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,909,457,000 after buying an additional 3,245,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $588,952,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.20 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $258.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $235.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.