Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Clarity Asset Management Inc.

Clarity Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 44.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 442 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Clarity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $98,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at $58,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $147,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.80.

Apple Stock Up 1.4%

AAPL stock opened at $230.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $221.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.48. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.91, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

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.