Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Sells 1,945 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,495 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,945 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.7% of Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's holdings in Apple were worth $11,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 111,858 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $28,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson grew its position in Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC grew its position in Apple by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 27,298 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,647 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in Apple by 164.6% in the fourth quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 3,472 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $869,000 after acquiring an additional 2,160 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.95.

Apple Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $210.01. The company had a trading volume of 42,218,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,538,384. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The business's fifty day moving average is $203.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 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 the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.