GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Has $41.75 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 166,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,281 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.9% of GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $41,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Rik Saylor Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,513,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 207,934 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $52,071,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. McHugh Group LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $9,124,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 59,873 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,993,000 after buying an additional 12,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 99,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,197,000 after purchasing an additional 20,396 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.26.

Apple Stock Down 7.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $188.38 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $229.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.16. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. 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 announced its earnings results 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, equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.