Leibman Financial Services Inc. Trims Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Leibman Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 35.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,414 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,950 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.6% of Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valliance Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $5,266,000. Vista Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 5,772 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 1,044,851 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $220,067,000 after purchasing an additional 5,451 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 90.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 869,690 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $188,134,000 after purchasing an additional 413,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 70.5% during the second quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 181,551 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,238,000 after purchasing an additional 75,072 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Loop Capital lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.85.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $245.55 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $240.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.