Wedbush Securities Inc. Has $231.09 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 922,824 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 49,633 shares during the period. Apple comprises 8.2% of Wedbush Securities Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Wedbush Securities Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $231,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $24,566,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156,680 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,290,044 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,847,413,000 after purchasing an additional 674,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $2.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $196.45. The company had a trading volume of 51,345,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,742,937. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $201.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $223.02. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

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.