First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 1,964 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,964 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.4% of First Horizon Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. First Horizon Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $84,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth $110,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush downgraded Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $7.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $205.35. 100,891,435 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,771,720. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.