Horan Capital Advisors LLC. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,208 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,417 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 6.6% of Horan Capital Advisors LLC.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Horan Capital Advisors LLC.'s holdings in Apple were worth $19,585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dravo Bay LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dravo Bay LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,217,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 134,461 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $33,672,000 after buying an additional 1,363 shares in the last quarter. SWS Partners raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. SWS Partners now owns 6,022 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,508,000 after buying an additional 2,197 shares in the last quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,640,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 931,871 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $233,359,000 after buying an additional 340,272 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.
Read Our Latest Research Report on AAPL
Insider Transactions at Apple
In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the 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 owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Apple Stock Down 0.3%
Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $212.33. The company had a trading volume of 49,235,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,032,102. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business's 50 day moving average price is $207.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.09. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.
Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Apple Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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