Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Bull Street Advisors LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Bull Street Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 39,903 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.9% of Bull Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Bull Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 70.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 27.7% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Maxim Group initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $182.40 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.37, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.78.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.