Fairman Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fairman Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,322 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 399 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 0.9% of Fairman Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Fairman Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Apple Trading Up 2.2 %

AAPL stock opened at $202.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $222.27 and its 200 day moving average is $230.99.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.