Provident Wealth Management LLC Has $2.25 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Provident Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,658 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 831 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 0.8% of Provident Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $242.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $244.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $230.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.68.

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.