Rothschild Investment LLC Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rothschild Investment LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 301,018 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,714 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.9% of Rothschild Investment LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $75,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Latitude Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Sensible Financial Planning & Management LLC. bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $1,577,000. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 49,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,531,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Values Added Financial LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 26,561 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,189,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Sitrin Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 31.0% during the third quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC now owns 50,501 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,767,000 after purchasing an additional 11,936 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $205.35 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $212.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $228.61. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.