Horizon Investment Services LLC Sells 6,884 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Horizon Investment Services LLC lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,884 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 5.7% of Horizon Investment Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Horizon Investment Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. St. James Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. Finally, Sonnipe Ltd bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $104,000. 58.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $2,753,216.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $189.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.17 and a twelve month high of $198.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $186.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.74. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The firm had revenue of $81.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. 51job restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.86.

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.