Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,521 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,799 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.7% of Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at $288,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in Apple by 6.3% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Bank lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,433,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $199.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,470,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,035,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company's 50-day moving average is $203.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.20. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James cut their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

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.