Wealthgarden F.S. LLC Has $2.17 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wealthgarden F.S. LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 97.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,658 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 297,772 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.0% of Wealthgarden F.S. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Wealthgarden F.S. LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.63.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $213.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s fifty day moving average is $212.98 and its 200 day moving average is $228.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.