Gouws Capital LLC Trims Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gouws Capital LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,590 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.8% of Gouws Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.62.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 sale, the director now 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 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average is $172.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.