Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Trademark Financial Management LLC

Trademark Financial Management LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,816 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Trademark Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 28.3% in the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.60.

Apple Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $233.33 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $208.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.35. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.