S.A. Mason LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

S.A. Mason LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,185 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.9% of S.A. Mason LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its holdings in Apple by 12.8% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, March 14th. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.52.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Apple stock opened at $223.19 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.08 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.43.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.