Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Townsend & Associates Inc

Townsend & Associates Inc reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,567 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,335,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,087 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $202.33 to $167.88 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.63.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $213.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.