Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Ridgewood Investments LLC

Ridgewood Investments LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,671 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 780 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Apple by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after acquiring an additional 25,926,552 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,932,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,103,464,000 after acquiring an additional 17,604,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 154.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 23,295,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,729,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,157,430 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 2.1 %

AAPL opened at $173.31 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.98 and a twelve month 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $181.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.73. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. 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 company earned $1.88 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.