Apple Inc. $AAPL Position Decreased by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 310,595 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,389 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.5% of Montag A & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $68,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.37.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $232.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.63. The company has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.