Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Symphony Financial Services Inc.

Symphony Financial Services Inc. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,453 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,612 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.3% of Symphony Financial Services Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Symphony Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $7,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's 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 directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $211.45. 43,910,127 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,930,688. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $206.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.99. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Argus raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

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.