Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Reduced by Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC

Key Points

• Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 6.0% in Q1, now holding 29,048 shares valued at $6,452,000, making it the firm's largest position.
• Apple reported earnings of $1.57 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with revenue rising to $94.04 billion, up 9.6% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.5%, and initiated a stock buyback program allowing for the repurchase of up to $100 billion in shares.

Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,048 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,854 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.8% of Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $6,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Loop Capital decreased their target price 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. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.25.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $0.79 on Tuesday, reaching $204.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,744,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,777,820. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $205.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.31. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.17.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.