Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Sells 1,987 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 55,175 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,987 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.6% of Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.'s holdings in Apple were worth $12,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $787,631,000 after buying an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. ODonnell Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the third quarter. ODonnell Financial Services LLC now owns 35,003 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 8.4% in the third quarter. Lanham O Dell & Company Inc. now owns 4,821 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,279,719 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $531,166,000 after purchasing an additional 28,488 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $263.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $2.52 on Friday, reaching $196.79. 51,328,536 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,825,645. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.77 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $219.65 and a 200-day moving average of $230.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.