Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Keynote Financial Services LLC

Keynote Financial Services LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,423 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,255 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 8.0% of Keynote Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Keynote Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $198.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $208.09 and a 200 day moving average of $227.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 given a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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.