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

Prentice Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,888 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,562 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.3% of Prentice Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Prentice Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6%

AAPL traded up $1.16 on Friday, hitting $211.18. The company had a trading volume of 48,647,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,145,744. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company's fifty day moving average price is $204.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.61. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm 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 167.24%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.