Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Wharton Business Group LLC

Wharton Business Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 437,576 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,233 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.0% of Wharton Business Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $109,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Apple by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 338,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,749,000 after acquiring an additional 29,177 shares in the last quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 4,149 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Apple by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 470,328 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $117,775,000 after purchasing an additional 50,893 shares during the period. Cannon Wealth Management Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Cannon Wealth Management Services LLC now owns 15,706 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New World Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. New World Advisors LLC now owns 26,239 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,571,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wedbush cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.25.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $205.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $212.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.63. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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 boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

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.