Lipe & Dalton Sells 1,528 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lipe & Dalton cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 75,105 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,528 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 10.0% of Lipe & Dalton's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Lipe & Dalton's holdings in Apple were worth $18,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $7.97 on Friday, reaching $205.35. The company had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,771,720. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business's 50-day moving average is $212.98 and its 200 day moving average is $228.83. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.25.

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.