Larson Financial Group LLC Sells 9,755 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Larson Financial Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,564 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 9,755 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.5% of Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after buying an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth $487,435,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,270 shares of company stock valued at $64,605,696 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.71.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $186.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $175.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.96. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

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.