Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s Largest Position

McCollum Christoferson Group LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,269 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 676 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 6.7% of McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $199.01 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $203.10 and a 200-day moving average of $225.00.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board 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 typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

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.