Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Apella Capital LLC

Apella Capital LLC lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 563 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 0.8% of Apella Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $240.36 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.15, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.