Financial Counselors Inc. Has $351.58 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Counselors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,403,955 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 8,672 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 5.1% of Financial Counselors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $351,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.02.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $3.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $203.92. 46,447,106 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,081,504. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $201.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.