Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD Sells 9,921 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 32.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,832 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 9,921 shares during the quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD's holdings in Apple were worth $5,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Apple by 4.4% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 540,710 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $125,985,000 after purchasing an additional 22,955 shares during the period. Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its position in Apple by 6.3% in the third quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 41,518 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $9,674,000 after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares during the period. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.4% in the third quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC now owns 72,547 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $16,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,734 shares during the period. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 279.8% in the third quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,429 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 9,893 shares during the period. Finally, Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 72.4% in the third quarter. Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 34,136 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,072,000 after purchasing an additional 14,337 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Maxim Group raised their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Argus raised Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 3.0%

AAPL stock traded down $6.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $195.27. The stock had a trading volume of 78,299,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,175,935. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.