Capital Market Strategies LLC Sells 2,770 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,212 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,770 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 9.2% of Capital Market Strategies LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Capital Market Strategies LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $13,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th 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 period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th 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 period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Apple Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.26 on Wednesday, reaching $201.56. 39,170,374 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,455,477. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $202.29 and a 200-day moving average of $220.98.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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.