BCM Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BCM Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,598 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 138 shares during the quarter. BCM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $140,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of AAPL opened at $212.33 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $206.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $226.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.