Capital Wealth Planning LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 97.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,346 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,449,377 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.1% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Capital Wealth Planning LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $14,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth about $288,000. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $87,501,000 after acquiring an additional 34,414 shares during the last quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. Simmons Bank lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $30,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,972,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL traded up $12.26 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $210.79. 63,644,481 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,124,497. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $208.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $227.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.