Norris Perne & French LLP MI Has $16.07 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Norris Perne & French LLP MI reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 5.2%, bringing its total shares to 72,325, valued at approximately $16.07 million.
• Apple has approved a $100 billion share buyback program, indicating that the board believes the company's shares are undervalued.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.65, beating analysts' expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue growth of 5.1% to $95.36 billion.

Norris Perne & French LLP MI decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,325 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,928 shares during the quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI's holdings in Apple were worth $16,066,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $2.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $209.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 43,674,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,746,808. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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

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.