Park Avenue Securities LLC Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 401,620 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 13,595 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.1% of Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $93,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in 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 raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $227.01. The stock had a trading volume of 14,730,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,315,543. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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's 50-day moving average price is $227.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.31. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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%. Apple's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.25.

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.