Demars Financial Group LLC Sells 858,094 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Demars Financial Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,510,139 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 858,094 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 6.8% of Demars Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Demars Financial Group LLC owned 0.06% of Apple worth $2,112,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Lesa Sroufe & Co purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth about $1,346,000. RS Crum Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 2.1% in the first quarter. RS Crum Inc. now owns 22,821 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,069,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV boosted its position in Apple by 2.0% in the first quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 48,996 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $10,883,000 after buying an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 48,615 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $10,799,000 after buying an additional 1,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 8.6% in the first quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,767 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,835,000 after buying an additional 1,717 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays set a $173.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.88. 38,805,177 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 49,464,392. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $204.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.58.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock 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 buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple 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.