MONECO Advisors LLC Sells 13,984 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

MONECO Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,145 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 13,984 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.0% of MONECO Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. MONECO Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $23,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Lowery Thomas LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.47.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL traded down $3.39 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $252.20. 35,435,137 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 57,203,777. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.89. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two 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.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.