Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by AMJ Financial Wealth Management

AMJ Financial Wealth Management decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,150 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its position in Apple by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 931,871 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $233,359,000 after acquiring an additional 340,272 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $1,511,000. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,852,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. GR Financial Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. GR Financial Group LLC now owns 11,407 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $24,566,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,156,680 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $212.93 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $207.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $227.09. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.