Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Raised by Neumann Capital Management LLC

Neumann Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 78,266 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.0% of Neumann Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Neumann Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Defined Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Apple by 18.6% in the first quarter. Defined Financial Planning LLC now owns 13,150 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,935,000 after acquiring an additional 2,063 shares during the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group increased its stake in Apple by 6.2% in the first quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 12,317 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 723 shares during the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.8% in the first quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 15,392 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,419,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Apple by 4.9% in the first quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. now owns 9,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,059,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Define Financial LLC increased its stake in Apple by 278.3% in the first quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. China Renaissance initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays set a $173.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.27.

Apple Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.50.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.