Financial Counselors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,461,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 21,033 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 5.0% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $281,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Maxim Group assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.11.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $172.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.72. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.93%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.