Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Decreased by Lokken Investment Group LLC

Lokken Investment Group LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,993 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 867 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.9% of Lokken Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Lokken Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. National Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 10,759 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,694,000 after buying an additional 3,335 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 205,967 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $51,578,000 after buying an additional 5,014 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 186,424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $46,684,000 after buying an additional 59,472 shares during the period. Finally, Gibson Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Gibson Capital LLC now owns 11,374 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 3,920 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.02.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $201.45 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $200.72 and its 200-day moving average is $223.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.