PFG Advisors Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

PFG Advisors decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,175 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 216 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.8% of PFG Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $34,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Apple by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,110,586,000 after buying an additional 25,926,552 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 60.0% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,932,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,103,464,000 after buying an additional 17,604,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,157,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $168.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $175.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.21. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.80 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 14.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Redburn Partners lowered shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.34.

Apple Company 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.