Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Lake Street Advisors Group LLC

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 200,796 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 6,122 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.3% of Lake Street Advisors Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $50,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Apple by 25,285.2% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $2.25 on Wednesday, reaching $196.26. 67,172,446 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,184,954. 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 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50 day moving average price is $210.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen cut 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. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered 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. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.

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.