Dover Advisors LLC Sells 2,451 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Dover Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,137 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,451 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 7.8% of Dover Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Dover Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $13,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 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 bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wedbush cut Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.25.

Apple Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $7.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $205.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The business's 50-day moving average is $212.15 and its 200-day moving average is $228.63. 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 company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

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.