Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Lessened by First City Capital Management Inc.

First City Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 18.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,766 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,878 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.2% of First City Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. First City Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $3,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 3.1% during the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 160,783 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $35,715,000 after buying an additional 4,890 shares in the last quarter. Persium Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 16.3% during the first quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 5,783 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Joule Financial LLC raised its stake in Apple by 75.0% during the first quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 5,850 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,299,000 after buying an additional 2,507 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 0.7% during the first quarter. Paragon Financial Partners Inc. now owns 25,419 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,646,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intergy Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.1% during the first quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,611 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,245,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital dropped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.27.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.27 on Thursday, reaching $212.41. 44,333,520 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,446,789. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $203.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.