Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Has $59.44 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 237,368 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 25,838 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.8% of Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $59,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after purchasing an additional 3,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the third quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 276,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $64,492,000 after buying an additional 6,711 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.26.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $188.38 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $229.45 and its 200 day moving average is $232.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.