Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Cut by NTV Asset Management LLC

NTV Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,402 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,957 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.5% of NTV Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. NTV Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $33,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.88.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $208.34. 24,722,624 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,689,747. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $168.15 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $216.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.42. The company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple's payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value 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 $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.