Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. Sells 111 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,078 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 111 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.9% of Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,020,609,000 after buying an additional 287,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $182.74 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.78. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. On average, equities 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.11.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.