Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 374,008 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,531 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 3.1% of Vestcor Inc's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Apple were worth $93,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $6.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $195.27. 78,299,242 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,177,224. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $205.39 and a 200-day moving average of $226.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Apple

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.