Arlington Capital Management Inc. Has $586,000 Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Arlington Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,338 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Arlington Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $202.82 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $201.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $224.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.19, 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 current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. 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 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen reduced 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple 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.