Hikari Tsushin Inc. Sells 34,364 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hikari Tsushin Inc. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 77.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,843 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 34,364 shares during the quarter. Hikari Tsushin Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $2,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. MCIA Inc grew its stake in Apple by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. MCIA Inc now owns 23,739 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,323,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Tenere Capital LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 111,031 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $25,870,000 after acquiring an additional 3,499 shares in the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 57,908 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,493,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $750,000. Finally, Montchanin Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Montchanin Asset Management LLC now owns 84,407 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $19,667,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Sunday, June 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Apple stock traded down $2.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $196.45. 51,345,532 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,804,401. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $201.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.10. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership 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 $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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.