Elevate Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Elevate Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 8.2%, selling 1,650 shares and now holding 18,433 shares, representing 3.8% of its total portfolio with a value of $4.1 million.
• Apple's recent earnings report showed $94.04 billion in revenue, exceeding estimates, with an earnings per share of $1.57, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.14.
• The company's Board of Directors approved a $100 billion stock buyback program, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation.

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,433 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,650 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.8% of Elevate Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $237.60.

Apple Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Apple stock traded down $0.9810 on Tuesday, reaching $229.9090. 20,787,359 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,647,684. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $210.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.94. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is 15.78%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.