Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Castleview Partners LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Castleview Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,723 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,155 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 3.1% of Castleview Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Castleview Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $4,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $4.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $202.95. 46,370,982 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,587,043. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm's 50-day moving average is $205.22 and its 200 day moving average is $213.98. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.