Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,575,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 57,452 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.9% of Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Apple were worth $290,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its stake in Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 70.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $111,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $182.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $172.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.78. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.11.

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.