Kercheville Advisors LLC Sells 3,066 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kercheville Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,460 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,066 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 6.6% of Kercheville Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Kercheville Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $16,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the first quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 48,996 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $10,883,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. Vista Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 48,615 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $10,799,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% in the first quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,767 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth about $31,309,000. Finally, Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 30,002 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,664,000 after purchasing an additional 3,195 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.88. 38,805,177 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 49,464,392. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $204.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.58.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 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 analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.