Ted Buchan & Co Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ted Buchan & Co trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Ted Buchan & Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’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 value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven 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 MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $199.20 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. 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 fifty day moving average price of $201.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.37.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

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.