Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $61.84 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 278,386 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 9,569 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.2% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Apple were worth $61,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,260,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,178,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,992,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.95.

Apple Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of AAPL opened at $210.01 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $203.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.08. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple Company 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.

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