Tranquility Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Tranquility Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 216 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.1% of Tranquility Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Tranquility Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 149,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $37,373,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 54,735 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705 shares during the last quarter. Park Capital Management LLC WI purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $6,279,000. Consolidated Planning Corp grew its position in Apple by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 76,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,280,000 after acquiring an additional 3,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Loop Capital cut shares of 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. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $194.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a PEG 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $220.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.53. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.