Rockport Wealth LLC Decreases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rockport Wealth LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 91.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,480 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 77,489 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.8% of Rockport Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Rockport Wealth LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $1,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 95,950.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,921 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919 shares during the period. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.6% during the third quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 79,005 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $18,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 2.4% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 328,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $76,479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,681 shares in the last quarter. ETF Store Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 17.8% during the third quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 1,869 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Braun Stacey Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the third quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 643,882 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $150,025,000 after buying an additional 12,232 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

Apple stock traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $199.40. The company had a trading volume of 8,470,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,035,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $203.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.20. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 160.83%. The business 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 firm earned $1.53 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

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.