LifePlan Financial LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LifePlan Financial LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,387 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. LifePlan Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,709,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 206,360 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $45,828,000 after purchasing an additional 16,756 shares during the period. Edge Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 113,328 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $23,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 41.2% during the 2nd quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 3,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $16,612,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 target price on Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.88.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $227.48 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.08 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $237.06 and its 200-day moving average is $234.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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%. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share 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 given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.