Liberty Capital Management Inc. Sells 3,130 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 96,396 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,130 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.9% of Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its stake in Apple by 118.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 70.2% during the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Redburn Partners lowered shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.05.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $169.30 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $173.04 and its 200-day moving average is $181.81. The company has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 14.95%.

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.