Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. Sells 8,326 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 29.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,355 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 8,326 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.8% of Elmwood Wealth Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $3,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after buying an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,605,195,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,020,609,000 after acquiring an additional 287,329 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Apple from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $195.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.11.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.15 on Tuesday, reaching $187.43. 52,337,958 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 61,933,441. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.15. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Corporate 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.