Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,825,561 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 164,896 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.9% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's holdings in Apple were worth $627,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,178,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,992,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $209.11. The company had a trading volume of 42,208,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,247,209. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $203.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits 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 stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.27.

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.