Tobam Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Tobam cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,215 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,291 shares during the quarter. Tobam’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Apple by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $192,700,000 after acquiring an additional 83,997 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $209.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average is $203.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $216.45. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given 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 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

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.