First Personal Financial Services Sells 975 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

First Personal Financial Services lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 36,449 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 975 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.7% of First Personal Financial Services’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. First Personal Financial Services’ holdings in Apple were worth $7,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in Apple by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Apple by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,519,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,020,609,000 after purchasing an additional 287,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $182.74 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors 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 dividend 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Redburn Partners lowered shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.11.

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.