Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Venture Visionary Partners LLC's 5th Largest Position

Venture Visionary Partners LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 347,888 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,304 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.6% of Venture Visionary Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Venture Visionary Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $87,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weaver Consulting Group increased its stake in shares of Apple by 2.6% in the third quarter. Weaver Consulting Group now owns 36,326 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,464,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the period. Wallace Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.1% in the third quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,388 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its position in Apple by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 351,354 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $81,865,000 after purchasing an additional 34,097 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 3,091,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $720,220,000 after purchasing an additional 439,519 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,332,627 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $543,502,000 after buying an additional 407,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Sunday, June 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $198.84. The stock had a trading volume of 14,546,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,449,083. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $200.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $223.60. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding 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 shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple 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.