Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC Sells 19,633 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC significantly reduced its Apple Inc. holdings by 67.6%, selling 19,633 shares and retaining 9,403 shares worth approximately $2,089,000.
• Apple recently declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.26 per share, translating to a 0.49% yield, and announced a $100 billion stock buyback plan, indicating confidence in its stock value.
• The company reported earnings of $1.65 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with revenue of $95.36 billion, up 5.1% from the previous year.

Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 67.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,403 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 19,633 shares during the quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $2,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC increased its position in Apple by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 27,298 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,836,000 after buying an additional 2,647 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $1.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $212.52. 11,262,509 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,283,719. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $204.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. 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 Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.94.

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.