Laurel Wealth Planning LLC Sells 150 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Laurel Wealth Planning LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,992 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $4.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $173.50. The company had a trading volume of 66,161,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,497,953. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.77. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.