Phillips Wealth Planners LLC Has $1.07 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 20.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,153 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 1.1% of Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 35,089 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,791,000 after buying an additional 3,998 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 44,158 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,058,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,906 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 25,380 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,356,000 after buying an additional 2,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,231 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,819,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.22.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $216.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.00. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given 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 yield of 0.46%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.