Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Trimmed by Financial & Tax Architects LLC

Financial & Tax Architects LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,387 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. Financial & Tax Architects LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 27.7% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $173.03 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.57. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, 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 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.