Avant Financial Advisors LLC Sells 2,069 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Avant Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,158 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,069 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.6% of Avant Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Avant Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th 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 valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after acquiring an additional 984,157 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $286.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $264.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.89. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $287.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Melius boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. DZ Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.53.

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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.