Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lessened its position 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 & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 291,931 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,790 shares during the period. Apple makes up 10.7% of Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $73,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $1.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $198.53. 36,406,804 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,093,894. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $208.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.33. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.