Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 1,392 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,909 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,392 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.3% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $25,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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 directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.60.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $232.91. The company had a trading volume of 37,584,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,933,523. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.35. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is 15.78%.

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.