Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning LLC cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 46.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 13,474 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.2% of Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $3,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory grew its stake in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday. New Street Research reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Maxim Group lifted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $238.02.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following 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. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

AAPL opened at $222.64 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $241.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.85. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week 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. The stock 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for 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 company's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.