Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. Has $28.10 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,500 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 13.6% of Maryland Capital Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $28,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the third quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $64,492,000 after purchasing an additional 6,711 shares in the last quarter. Blossom Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the third quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 12,243 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,853,000 after buying an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,279,719 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $531,166,000 after buying an additional 28,488 shares during the last quarter. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. now owns 4,821 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ODonnell Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Apple by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. ODonnell Financial Services LLC now owns 35,003 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $249.79 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $254.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.06.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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