Moser Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 2,455 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Moser Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,867 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,455 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 8.2% of Moser Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in Apple by 21.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. IFG Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 61,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,225,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,943,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 38.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 204,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $47,654,000 after acquiring an additional 56,525 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.26.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $198.15 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. 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 company 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.14.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.