Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Trimmed by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 362,782 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 19,085 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.7% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Apple were worth $90,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 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 during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased 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 worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $170.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. 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. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.23.

Apple Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $172.42 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $225.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.01. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Company 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.