Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $97.07 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 437,005 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,672 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 6.9% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Apple were worth $97,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Allstate Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $192,700,000 after buying an additional 83,997 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group set a $210.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.27.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

AAPL opened at $211.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $203.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.12. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the 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 $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.

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