Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Lowered by First Foundation Advisors

First Foundation Advisors lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,919 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,173 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 2.8% of First Foundation Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $69,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.05.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $239.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $218.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.89. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year 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.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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.