White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,597 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.6% of White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. lifted its position in Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in Apple by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after buying an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Apple by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after buying an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after buying an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $169.02 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.80 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $173.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Maxim Group began coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

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.