Parkside Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Parkside Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 13.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,488 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 3,976 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.4% of Parkside Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Parkside Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $5,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $201.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 73,093,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,360,608. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $202.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.03. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase 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%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.39.

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.