Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Prudential Financial Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,006,422 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,082,947 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 5.2% of Prudential Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.10% of Apple worth $3,757,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 82,293 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $19,174,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 73,567 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $17,141,000 after buying an additional 1,224 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 317,612 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $74,004,000 after buying an additional 30,434 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 22,627 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,000 after buying an additional 3,366 shares during the period. Finally, Garner Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 43,691 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $10,180,000 after buying an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $202.82. 43,304,587 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,081,220. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $202.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $224.69. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.