Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 313,302 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bard Financial Services Inc. lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 247,880 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 313,302 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 12.0% of Bard Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $57,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple 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 $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $227.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.47. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.