JNBA Financial Advisors Sells 1,525 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

JNBA Financial Advisors lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,695 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,525 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.8% of JNBA Financial Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. JNBA Financial Advisors' holdings in Apple were worth $7,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $59,122,000 after acquiring an additional 28,799 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its position in Apple by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $87,501,000 after acquiring an additional 34,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 5th Street Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.88.

Apple Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Apple stock traded up $2.87 on Thursday, hitting $207.47. The company had a trading volume of 24,372,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,694,602. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $166.21 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $217.14 and a 200-day moving average of $229.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. Corporate 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.