Mather Group LLC. Sells 199,566 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mather Group LLC. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 203,473 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 199,566 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 0.6% of Mather Group LLC.'s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Mather Group LLC.'s holdings in Apple were worth $47,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Apple by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,765,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $10,909,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,245,281 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,887 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,619,614 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $7,291,583,000 after buying an additional 1,065,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 29,515,371 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,061,296,000 after acquiring an additional 485,873 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $1.35 on Friday, reaching $229.87. 38,168,252 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 43,855,068. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's 50 day moving average is $227.73 and its 200-day moving average is $218.06. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business'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 value of $945,233.10. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.