ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 261 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 261 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.0% of ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $216.98 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.80 and a 200 day moving average of $234.00. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.22.

Apple Company 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.