Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. Sells 81 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,676 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 7.2% of Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents 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 valued at $40,818,720 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush cut their target price on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $263.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $196.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $220.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.