WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC Sells 6,436 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,283 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,436 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 4.0% of WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 20,372.7% in 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.52.

Apple Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $223.89 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.08 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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 $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.