RFP Financial Group LLC Sells 6,504 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

RFP Financial Group LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 76,897 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,504 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 5.8% of RFP Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. RFP Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

AAPL opened at $253.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $224.73. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $253.83. The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.