Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Holdings Trimmed by Clark Capital Management Group Inc.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,274,460 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 70,394 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.0% of Clark Capital Management Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $283,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $240.80.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.52, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $221.50 and a 200 day moving average of $212.39.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 15.78%.

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.

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