Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,678 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,026 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,678 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.5% of Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $8,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,178,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,992,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

AAPL traded down $2.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $196.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,345,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,804,401. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $201.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.10. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.