Avity Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Avity Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 335,827 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,713 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 6.0% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $74,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, 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 own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $210.00 price target on Apple and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.95.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $213.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $203.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.14.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.