Callahan Advisors LLC Sells 821 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Callahan Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 177,286 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 821 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.0% of Callahan Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $34,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $487,435,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.62.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.77. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

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. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company 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 business earned $1.88 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, 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 sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 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.