First Heartland Consultants Inc. Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Heartland Consultants Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,536 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,389 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.7% of First Heartland Consultants Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. First Heartland Consultants Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $16,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory increased its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Up 0.8 %

Apple stock traded up $1.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $229.98. The stock had a trading volume of 68,239,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,481,172. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $241.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.