WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 189,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,908 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 3.1% of WCG Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $47,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Scotiabank cut Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and set a $170.62 target price (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $196.58 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $202.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.30. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.