Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 552,753 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 15,390 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 9.2% of Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA's holdings in Apple were worth $138,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $198.53. 36,406,804 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,093,894. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $208.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. 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 posted $1.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush cut Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Argus raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.