Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,305 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 190 shares during the period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $487,435,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Apple by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.5 %

Apple stock opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $172.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.77. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. DA Davidson started coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 target price for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.62.

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.