Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 196 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 1.7% of Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $198.92 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $210.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.13.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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

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.