Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 56.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,353 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,733 shares during the period. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL's holdings in Apple were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $625,084,000. Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,199,000. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 45,722 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $10,653,000 after purchasing an additional 6,546 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 53,648 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yardley Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $396,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

AAPL traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $199.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 70,744,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,229,633. 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 $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day moving average is $203.10 and its 200-day moving average is $225.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Citigroup reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Company 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.