Financial Advisory Partners LLC Has $5.86 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Advisory Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.9% of Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $110,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value 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. Insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.26.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $188.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm 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 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $229.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.