Bender Robert & Associates Has $65.71 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bender Robert & Associates lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 35.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 262,400 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 143,431 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 15.9% of Bender Robert & Associates' portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Bender Robert & Associates' holdings in Apple were worth $65,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,285.2% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $201.36. The stock had a trading volume of 46,619,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,066,213. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 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%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.