Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Reduced by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 283,923 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 11,349 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 1.5% of Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $63,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth about $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $230.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,336,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,990,016. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $213.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.93. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.37.

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.