Wormser Freres Gestion Decreases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wormser Freres Gestion reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,947 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 228 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 4.1% of Wormser Freres Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Wormser Freres Gestion’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday, June 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Three 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $196.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $202.17 and a 200-day moving average of $222.30. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend 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.