SOL Capital Management CO Sells 41,520 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SOL Capital Management CO decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,293 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 41,520 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.5% of SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Apple were worth $13,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after acquiring an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 93,467 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares in the last quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 118,888 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,356,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,978 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 32,816 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,646,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $221.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.08 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $231.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders 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 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.65.

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.