Echo Wealth Management LLC Has $6.53 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Echo Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 8.0%, now holding 29,387 shares valued at approximately $6.53 million, making Apple the 9th largest position in their portfolio.
• In Q1, several institutional investors increased their stakes in Apple, with VanWeelden Wealth Management LLC raising its holdings by 24.8% and GAM Holding AG by 12.7%.
• Apple's Board of Directors authorized a substantial $100 billion stock buyback plan on May 1st, indicating a belief that the company's stock may be undervalued.

Echo Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,387 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,565 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.4% of Echo Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Echo Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $6,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, 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 sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of AAPL traded down $2.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $209.05. 43,674,703 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 43,746,808. The company has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.16. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. 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. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note 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 for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.94.

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.