Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 70,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 30,660 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.9% of Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after buying an additional 126,210 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its position in shares of Apple by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $237.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.12, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $240.63 and its 200 day moving average is $230.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm 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 for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. 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%.

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.