CRA Financial Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

CRA Financial Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 200,985 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 586 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 8.6% of CRA Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $46,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. HCR Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 530,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $123,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,816 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the third quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 14,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,397,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.2% in the third quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC now owns 8,988 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in Apple by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 491,209 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $114,452,000 after acquiring an additional 17,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Code Waechter LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.33 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $229.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.02. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.81. The company has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.