Beacon Capital Management LLC Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Beacon Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 4.1% in the first quarter, maintaining approximately $10.97 million in value from 49,402 shares.
• Apple announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.26 per share and initiated a $100 billion share repurchase program.
• Recent analyst ratings for Apple demonstrate a generally positive outlook, with an average target price of $234.94 and a recommendation of "Moderate Buy."

Beacon Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,402 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,112 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.5% of Beacon Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Beacon Capital Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $10,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 27,298 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,836,000 after buying an additional 2,647 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.94.

Apple Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $1.53 on Tuesday, hitting $212.52. 10,429,226 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,283,719. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $204.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $214.22. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.