Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Tower Wealth Partners Inc.

Tower Wealth Partners Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 20.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,086 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,371 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 1.2% of Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew 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 worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $208.78 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding 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 management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

About Apple

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.