Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Has $14.27 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,966 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 13,137 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.9% of Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $14,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $240.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.34.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. 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.