Fluent Financial LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fluent Financial LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,922 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Fluent Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after acquiring an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 10.8% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 60,021 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,292,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. now owns 112,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the period. Drexel Morgan & Co. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 44,102 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,563,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 263,747 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $45,227,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.66, 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $227.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $217.40. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm 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 revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. 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 presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.