SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. Sells 3,180 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 239,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,180 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 11.0% of SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $59,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. 5th Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 14,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,297,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Cowa LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 37,259 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,681,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 264,322 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $61,587,000 after acquiring an additional 3,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resolute Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 25.5% in the third quarter. Resolute Advisors LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $211.45 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.84. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Apple

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.