SP Asset Management LLC Sells 2,850 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SP Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 188,584 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,850 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.0% of SP Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. SP Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $47,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $211.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 53,614,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,938,270. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $206.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share 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 repurchase 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 shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.