Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 57.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,647 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 228,832 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.7% of Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $41,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Apple stock traded down $1.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $231.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 56,003,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 63,552,584. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.14. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.60.

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.