Polen Capital Management LLC Has $1.54 Billion Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Polen Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,169,513 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 566,630 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.2% of Polen Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Polen Capital Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $1,544,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. SouthState Corp lifted its position in Apple by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 340,745 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $85,329,000 after buying an additional 46,906 shares in the last quarter. Yardley Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Yardley Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,717 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $817,000. Signature Wealth Management Group boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 9,315 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,333,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 169,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,993 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $199.40. 8,470,658 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,035,679. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple Company 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.