LS Investment Advisors LLC Sells 9,797 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LS Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 325,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 9,797 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 10.9% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $62,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the third quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC grew its position in Apple by 13.6% during the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after buying an additional 20,737 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.2% during the third quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 50,943 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,722,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Apple by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 578,897,858 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $112,288,818,000 after buying an additional 2,616,084 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $168.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $180.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.59. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.78 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.27.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.23.

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.