Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by DMC Group LLC

DMC Group LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,974 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,170 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 9.6% of DMC Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. DMC Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 16,252.3% during the first quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,992,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 6,949,659 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 21.7% during the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Tower Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Redburn Partners cut Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Bank of America upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.27.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $173.31 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $181.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.73. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.98 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior 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. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.