Avior Wealth Management LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Avior Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. by 5.6%, selling 10,957 shares during the 1st quarter.
• Apple recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, increasing from the previous dividend of $0.25, representing an annualized yield of 0.49%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Apple, with a consensus target price of $234.94, reflecting a combination of "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings in the market.

Avior Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,483 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 10,957 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.6% of Avior Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Avior Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $41,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 181.2% in the first quarter. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 3,146 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 23.5% in the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,276 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Provident Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 32,532 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,226,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, Siligmueller & Norvid Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Siligmueller & Norvid Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,576 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.94.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $208.82. 13,029,085 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,191,012. The business's 50-day moving average price is $205.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

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

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.