Kaizen Financial Strategies Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kaizen Financial Strategies cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,514 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,964 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 7.9% of Kaizen Financial Strategies' investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Kaizen Financial Strategies' holdings in Apple were worth $13,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. China Renaissance initiated coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.39.

Apple Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $201.08 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. The business's 50 day moving average price is $202.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.21. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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