MAS Advisors LLC Sells 253 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

MAS Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,359 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 253 shares during the period. MAS Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berkshire Money Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. now owns 23,374 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,796,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 16,604 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,407,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 35,892 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,364,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Headland Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Headland Capital LLC now owns 42,046 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 968,705 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $198,749,000 after acquiring an additional 28,929 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $269.00 on Wednesday. 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 firm 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. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $269.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $245.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $220.69.

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 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 firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. CLSA upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.76.

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.