American Financial Advisors LLC Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

American Financial Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,842 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,387 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.1% of American Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. American Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.0% during the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 129,549 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,286,000 after buying an additional 2,510 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. now owns 39,677 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Apple by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 578,470 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $121,837,000 after purchasing an additional 53,666 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advantage Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.3% during the second quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. now owns 57,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,997,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % 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 three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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. Moffett Nathanson decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $237.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.89.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

About Apple

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.