Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,290 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 520 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.1% of Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Headinvest LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of Apple by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after purchasing an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management raised its holdings in Apple by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 37,178 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,158,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 673,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,284,000 after buying an additional 24,634 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $172.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Maxim Group assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.72.

About Apple

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.