Absher Wealth Management LLC Sells 7,939 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Absher Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,344 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 7,939 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.1% of Absher Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Absher Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $23,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson set a $290.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Moffett Nathanson restated a "sell" rating and set a $188.00 target price (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $240.26.

Apple Trading Up 15.3 %

AAPL traded up $26.43 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $198.85. 183,824,320 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,679,684. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $224.31 and a 200 day moving average of $231.59.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.