Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC Sells 277 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,480 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 277 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.4% of Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.76.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $269.00 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $269.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $245.68 and a 200-day moving average of $220.69.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given 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 was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.