Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Trimmed by RBA Wealth Management LLC

RBA Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,419 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 375 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.9% of RBA Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. RBA Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued 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 stock 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 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $248.05 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $234.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 $254.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $94.93 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.