Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Cut by J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 535,565 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 11,071 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 12.5% of J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $134,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,723,104 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $876,483,000 after purchasing an additional 103,856 shares during the period. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded up $4.87 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $200.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 31,401,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,160,519. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $204.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $225.71. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect 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 share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 12th. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus raised Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

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.