Bowie Capital Management LLC Sells 15,099 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bowie Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 177,027 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,099 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.3% of Bowie Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Bowie Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $44,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulldog Investors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,169,675 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,294,590,000 after buying an additional 235,670 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $109,975,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $6,928,000. Finally, Brown Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,443 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 1.4%

AAPL stock opened at $196.45 on Monday. 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 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $201.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.93.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.