Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Has $45.79 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 182,848 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,787 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.1% of Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $45,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.63.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $213.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $212.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.