Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC Lowers Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 488,796 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 6,521 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 2.5% of Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $122,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Barclays decreased their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $201.70 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.84. The company has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.