Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 1,844 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,041 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,844 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.8% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $17,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $140,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Up 0.0%

AAPL stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $198.84. 14,546,869 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,449,083. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $200.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.60.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.