Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV

Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,329 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 424 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.8% of Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.98.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $224.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $211.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.13. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.