Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Compass Financial Group INC SD

Compass Financial Group INC SD lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,129 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 121 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.7% of Compass Financial Group INC SD’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Compass Financial Group INC SD’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after buying an additional 588,427 shares during the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in Apple by 34.7% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 591,599 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $137,843,000 after acquiring an additional 152,310 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 702,624 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $163,711,000 after purchasing an additional 8,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 956,855 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $222,947,000 after purchasing an additional 33,596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.85.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $196.79 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.77 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $219.65 and its 200-day moving average is $230.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

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.