Sentry LLC Has $5.27 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sentry LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,740 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,341 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.0% of Sentry LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Sentry LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% during 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 increased its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Redburn Partners lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.05.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $169.30. The stock had a trading volume of 44,717,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,363,952. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.79. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.