Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by MCF Advisors LLC

MCF Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 85,497 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 561 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.2% of MCF Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.49.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $258.02 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $233.09 and a 200-day moving average of $214.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.