tru Independence LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

tru Independence LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 34,783 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,498 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.7% of tru Independence LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. tru Independence LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Apple by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 749,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $187,735,000 after acquiring an additional 120,033 shares during the last quarter. Heirloom Wealth Management increased its holdings in Apple by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Heirloom Wealth Management now owns 43,841 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,979,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569 shares during the period. West Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 49,181 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,674 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 52,108 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,049,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Finally, Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,535,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.65.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

AAPL opened at $214.10 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $232.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.33. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 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.