Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Flaharty Asset Management LLC

Flaharty Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,585 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,081 shares during the quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% during the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Melius Research set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.80.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $234.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.52, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $221.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

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.