Mirador Capital Partners LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mirador Capital Partners LP lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,144 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 759 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.9% of Mirador Capital Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Mirador Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $221,753,959,000 after buying an additional 8,734,393 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $56,396,763,000 after buying an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,589,468,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group began coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.34.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were 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 owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.8 %

Apple stock opened at $168.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.80 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $175.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

About Apple

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.