Affiance Financial LLC Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Affiance Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,977 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 283 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.9% of Affiance Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Affiance Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Apple by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,661 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Stonekeep Investments LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC now owns 6,627 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 88,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $20,628,000 after buying an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Bright Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 16,767 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,907,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.2% in the third quarter. Guardian Investment Management now owns 98,729 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,004,000 after acquiring an additional 6,647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $229.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $220.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $240.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.68.

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.