Professional Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,342 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 422 shares during the period. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Stewardship Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 69,603 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Bond & Devick Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Bond & Devick Financial Network Inc. now owns 17,366 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,343,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 83,084 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,996,000 after buying an additional 2,874 shares during the period. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 212,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,846,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $173.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.98 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.73. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.27.

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.