KRS Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

KRS Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,497 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 983 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 11.8% of KRS Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. KRS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 576,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $144,358,000 after purchasing an additional 15,361 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,154,000 after acquiring an additional 4,254 shares in the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 64,021 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,032,000 after acquiring an additional 4,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 141,272 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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

Apple Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $235.93 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $238.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

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.