Blue Chip Partners LLC Sells 2,254 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Blue Chip Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 213,749 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,254 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 4.6% of Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $53,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 9.8% in the third quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,395,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the period. Financial Management Network Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 3.2% during the third quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. now owns 64,470 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,622,000 after buying an additional 1,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudock Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 3.0% during the third quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 35,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,244,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James increased their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Apple from $252.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.17.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $204.57 on Thursday. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $217.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.52. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $166.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 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.