New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.9% of New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.6% in the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 58,341 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 452,065 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $95,214,000 after purchasing an additional 14,189 shares during the period. Mainsail Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC now owns 5,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. now owns 72,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,220,000 after buying an additional 978 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $242.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $239.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.64.

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.