Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Strata Wealth Advisors LLC

Strata Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,042 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 885 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.2% of Strata Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.37.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $232.14 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.08.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

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.