Kimelman & Baird LLC Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kimelman & Baird LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 301,461 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 6,637 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 6.0% of Kimelman & Baird LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Kimelman & Baird LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $75,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $24,566,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $21,335,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $199.01. The company had a trading volume of 70,744,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,229,633. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company's 50-day moving average is $203.10 and its 200-day moving average is $225.02. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost 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 is presently 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple 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.