Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 81.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 230,505 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,006,028 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $57,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 2.3%

AAPL stock traded down $4.77 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $202.09. 59,113,086 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,017,873. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business's 50 day moving average price is $205.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.43. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. Corporate 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.