LongView Wealth Management Sells 1,221 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LongView Wealth Management lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 65,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,221 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.0% of LongView Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. LongView Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. O Connor Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % 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 this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $238.03 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $239.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.78, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.