Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Financial Counselors Inc.’s Largest Position

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,461,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 21,033 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 5.0% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $281,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 70.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.72.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.93%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Redburn Partners lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.11.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple 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.