DAVENPORT & Co LLC Lowers Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,117,191 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,125 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.5% of DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $215,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,170,000 after purchasing an additional 8,608 shares during the last quarter. TTP Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. TTP Investments Inc. now owns 115,650 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,266,000 after buying an additional 20,147 shares during the period. Founders Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Founders Capital Management LLC now owns 84,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,338,000 after buying an additional 2,814 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 46,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,012,000 after acquiring an additional 2,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 182,551 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,361 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.05.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

Apple stock opened at $166.90 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.80 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.