Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Advocate Group LLC

Advocate Group LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,683 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,446 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.3% of Advocate Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after buying an additional 8,734,393 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $56,396,763,000 after buying an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after buying an additional 7,736,013 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Apple by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after buying an additional 25,926,552 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 target price for the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $172.69 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.32. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.80 and a 1 year high of $199.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s payout ratio is 14.95%.

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.