Acorn Creek Capital LLC Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Acorn Creek Capital LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 7.8%, holding 17,130 shares valued at approximately $3.8 million, making it the 13th largest position in their portfolio.
• Apple's recent earnings report indicated earnings per share of $1.57, exceeding expectations significantly, along with a 9.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $94.04 billion.
• The company has approved a $100 billion stock repurchase plan that allows repurchase of up to 3.1% of its shares, signifying confidence in the stock's current valuation.

Acorn Creek Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,130 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,447 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.9% of Acorn Creek Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Acorn Creek Capital LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $3,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $217.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $203.46. 28,420,438 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,925,180. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $205.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.17.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's payout ratio is 15.78%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.