Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC Has $14.75 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 35.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,890 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 31,806 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.6% of Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $14,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $4.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $201.00. 95,792,149 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.56. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share 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 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% 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. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.