Riverwater Partners LLC Sells 1,254 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Riverwater Partners LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 31.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,254 shares during the quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $750,000. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 30.7% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 76,638 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,490,000 after buying an additional 18,003 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 125,641 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,674,000 after acquiring an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,679,000. Finally, Abel Hall LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 15,848 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,693,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $199.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $201.28 and a 200 day moving average of $223.37.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.86.

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.