Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Nova R Wealth Inc.

Nova R Wealth Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,152 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 954 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.2% of Nova R Wealth Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Nova R Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 209.2% in the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $247.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.66. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month 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.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple Company 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.