Gouws Capital LLC Has $2.23 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Gouws Capital LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,590 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of Gouws Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the third quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC increased 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 worth $29,589,000 after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in Apple by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after purchasing an additional 279,311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.62.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.