Baxter Bros Inc. Sells 736 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Baxter Bros Inc. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,140 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 736 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $24,566,054,000 after buying an additional 3,156,680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $203.27 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $202.29 and its 200 day moving average is $224.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued 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 yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Four research 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.