Whitener Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,277 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,746 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,277 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.6% of Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $26,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $238.03 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $239.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Apple Profile

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.