Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Diligent Investors LLC

Diligent Investors LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 83,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 950 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.8% of Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $198.42 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $202.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $222.66. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.