Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Lowered by Boston Trust Walden Corp

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden Corp reduced its position in Apple Inc. by 2.8%, holding 1,804,596 shares valued at approximately $400.9 million, making Apple its second largest investment.
• Apple's board has authorized a $100 billion share repurchase plan, indicating they believe the stock is currently undervalued.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $1.65, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, which marked a 5.1% year-over-year increase.

Boston Trust Walden Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,804,596 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 51,710 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.9% of Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Apple were worth $400,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.94.

Apple Stock Down 0.7%

AAPL stock traded down $1.53 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $212.52. The stock had a trading volume of 10,429,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,283,719. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company's 50 day moving average is $204.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.