Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Midwest Professional Planners LTD.

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,808 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,864 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.8% of Midwest Professional Planners LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.'s holdings in Apple were worth $5,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $6.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $195.27. The stock had a trading volume of 78,299,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,175,935. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.92. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.