Fairman Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fairman Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,322 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 399 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 0.9% of Fairman Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Fairman Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after buying an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. now owns 185,781 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $43,287,000 after purchasing an additional 20,461 shares in the last quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 10.2% during the third quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,153 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,380,000 after buying an additional 2,968 shares during the period. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.5% in the third quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,197,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $202.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.