Willner & Heller LLC Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Willner & Heller LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,757 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 347 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.3% of Willner & Heller LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Willner & Heller LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 6.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 6.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,893,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $239.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $237.56 and its 200-day moving average is $234.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s 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.