Herbst Group LLC Has $6.09 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Herbst Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,316 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,600 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.8% of Herbst Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Herbst Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $6,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.19 on Wednesday, hitting $235.74. The stock had a trading volume of 47,184,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,560,264. The business has a 50 day moving average of $238.81 and a 200 day moving average of $233.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.08 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group raised their price target on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.