Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,758,178 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 14,378 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 5.7% of Welch & Forbes LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $440,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth about $288,000. 5th Street Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $30,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,972,000. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 6.3% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Apple
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company'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 directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Apple Price Performance
NASDAQ AAPL traded down $0.19 on Friday, reaching $211.26. 53,614,750 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,938,270. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $206.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research 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 was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.
Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Apple Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Apple, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Apple wasn't on the list.
While Apple currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Today, we are inviting you to take a free peek at our proprietary, exclusive, and up-to-the-minute list of 20 stocks that Wall Street's top analysts hate.
Many of these appear to have good fundamentals and might seem like okay investments, but something is wrong. Analysts smell something seriously rotten about these companies. These are true "Strong Sell" stocks.
Get This Free Report
