Westside Investment Management Inc. Has $18.49 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Westside Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 83,082 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,700 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.9% of Westside Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Westside Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $18,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Apple by 28.3% in the first 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 during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp grew its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays raised their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.60.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.19 on Friday, reaching $231.59. 56,003,275 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 63,552,584. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $209.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.14. The company has a market cap of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's payout ratio is 15.78%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently 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.