Bristlecone Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bristlecone Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 216,082 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,148 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.2% of Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $54,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.26.

Apple Stock Up 4.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $198.15 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $222.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.14.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Corporate 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.