Plan Group Financial LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Plan Group Financial LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 56.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,360 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,722 shares during the period. Plan Group Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its position in Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Apple by 70.2% during 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. increased its position in Apple by 27.7% during the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.11.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $184.57 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $172.20 and a 200-day moving average of $181.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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 paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple Company 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.