Professional Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,621 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,645 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.3% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $16,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 27.8% during the first quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 8,312 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,846,000 after buying an additional 1,810 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC grew its position in Apple by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 32,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. Griffith & Werner Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Griffith & Werner Inc. now owns 26,975 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,992,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 279,632 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $62,115,000 after buying an additional 2,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Center Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.4% in the first quarter. City Center Advisors LLC now owns 3,609 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $802,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's 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 directly owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

AAPL traded down $1.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $211.14. The stock had a trading volume of 26,418,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,390,132. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.73. 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 twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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 permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised 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. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.27.

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.