M&R Capital Management Inc. Sells 5,839 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

M&R Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,112 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 5,839 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 8.3% of M&R Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. M&R Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $37,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

Apple stock opened at $228.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $227.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.00. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.