IMS Capital Management Sells 849 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

IMS Capital Management decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,313 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 849 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 7.0% of IMS Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 6,184,360 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,580,560,000 after purchasing an additional 263,914 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. G&S Capital LLC increased its position in Apple by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 17,678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,427,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,801,000 after buying an additional 2,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castellan Group boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Castellan Group now owns 5,974 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $196.79 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

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.