LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Sells 7,340 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 221,060 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 7,340 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 7.6% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $55,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $77,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $160,000. Sebold Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Define Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 0.4%

AAPL stock traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $211.45. 43,910,127 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,930,688. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $206.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.56, 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 released 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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.