Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Trimmed by St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,003 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.1% of St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after acquiring an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its position in Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 209,327 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,895,000 after purchasing an additional 7,860 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 28.0% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,601,162 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $446,048,000 after purchasing an additional 568,771 shares in the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the first quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 45,004 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,982 shares during the period. Finally, Adapt Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $868,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $228.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.64.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.