Exeter Financial LLC Has $10.89 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Exeter Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,476 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 54 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.0% of Exeter Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valliance Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth $5,266,000. Vista Finance LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 5,772 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 1,044,851 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $220,067,000 after purchasing an additional 5,451 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its position in Apple by 90.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 869,690 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $188,134,000 after purchasing an additional 413,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 70.5% during the second quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 181,551 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $38,238,000 after purchasing an additional 75,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $245.55 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $240.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.88. 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 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS 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 $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.85.

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.