Highland Financial Advisors LLC Sells 396 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Highland Financial Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 396 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 0.5% of Highland Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Highland Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised 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 during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.92, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $239.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.66.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Wedbush increased their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % 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, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.