Arbor Investment Advisors LLC Sells 34,920 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Arbor Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 58.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,091 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 34,920 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 0.9% of Arbor Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Arbor Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 10.6% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $213.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $212.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $228.83. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.63.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.