GoalVest Advisory LLC Sells 147 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GoalVest Advisory LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 147 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.8% of GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.22.

Apple Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $209.68 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $235.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.83. 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 company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share 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 analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.