Wallington Asset Management LLC Has $24.34 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wallington Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 126,413 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,491 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.1% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. One Wealth Management Investment & Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $9,954,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,457,048 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $858,115,000 after purchasing an additional 62,246 shares during the period. Midwest Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 36,631 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,053,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Tamar Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Tamar Securities LLC now owns 113,827 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,915,000 after buying an additional 17,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RKL Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 112,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,702,000 after buying an additional 4,098 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Maxim Group assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.62.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $169.30 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 stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $172.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.63. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62.

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

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.