Forte Capital LLC ADV Sells 5,299 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Forte Capital LLC ADV reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 245,119 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,299 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.5% of Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Apple were worth $57,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 42.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521 shares during the period. Mcdonald Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 77,458 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,314,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959 shares during the period. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 29,262 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,163,000 after purchasing an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Divergent Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $317,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $236.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.