Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Cut by Financial Avengers Inc.

Key Points

• Financial Avengers Inc. cut its Apple stake by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,309 shares and ending with 89,442 shares worth about $24.3 million. Apple still makes up 10% of the firm’s portfolio and is its fourth-largest holding.
• Apple reported a strong latest quarter, posting $2.01 EPS versus the $1.95 estimate on revenue of $111.18 billion, which beat expectations and rose 16.6% year over year. Analysts now expect the company to earn 8.75 EPS for the current year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share from $0.26, while insiders and several major funds continue to actively adjust their positions. Apple’s institutional ownership remains high at 67.73%.

Financial Avengers Inc. trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 89,442 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,309 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 10.0% of Financial Avengers Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Financial Avengers Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $24,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $387,749,545,000 after acquiring an additional 26,856,752 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after purchasing an additional 6,555,392 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $97,031,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,103 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $62,659,118,000 after buying an additional 1,379,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $298.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.85 and a 52-week high of $317.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $289.73 and a 200-day moving average of $272.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Apple's revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 97,875 shares of company stock worth $24,998,541. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s planned price increases could protect margins as memory and storage costs rise, and Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating with a $380 target, citing Apple’s pricing power and supply-chain strength. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of upcoming AI-focused devices and a second-generation iPhone Air support confidence in Apple’s product pipeline and longer-term growth story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s planned price hikes may help earnings, but they could also pressure demand if consumers balk at higher handset prices. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple opening Brazil’s App Store to alternative marketplaces reduces regulatory friction there, but it also underscores ongoing global platform scrutiny. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.59.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc NASDAQ: AAPL is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple's principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.

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