Arbor Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 58.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,091 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 34,920 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.9% of Arbor Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Arbor Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $6,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial upped their price target 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. Maxim Group upped their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.25.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Apple
Insider Activity at Apple
In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Apple Stock Down 3.7 %
Apple stock traded down $7.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $205.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. The company has a market cap 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. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm's 50 day moving average is $212.15 and its 200 day moving average is $228.63.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.
Apple announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
About Apple
(
Free Report)
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.
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