Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 390,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,569 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 9.7% of LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI's holdings in Apple were worth $86,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.39.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $201.08. 73,093,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,360,608. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $202.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.83.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.