Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 74.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,124 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,236 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 7.8% of Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Pillar Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 76,845 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $17,905,000 after acquiring an additional 11,628 shares in the last quarter. Parthenon LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Parthenon LLC now owns 126,393 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $29,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 24.4% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 550,773 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $128,330,000 after purchasing an additional 108,201 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.9% during the third quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,320 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 19,227 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,493,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.02.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $241.12 and a 200-day moving average of $230.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.