Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $147.24 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 764,779 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 38,043 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 12.1% of Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Apple were worth $147,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. raised its holdings in Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $29,589,000 after acquiring an additional 20,737 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after acquiring an additional 10,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after acquiring an additional 279,311 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.05.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $165.84 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.10. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $162.80 and a one year high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.