Verum Partners LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Verum Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.8% of Verum Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Verum Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Apple by 14.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,932,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,103,464,000 after purchasing an additional 17,604,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 154.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 23,295,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,729,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,157,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 253,915 shares of company stock worth $44,202,868. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.08.

Apple Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $175.04 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.78 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.15.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.24 dividend. 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 0.55%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 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.