Capital Advantage Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Advantage Inc. trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,895 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,664 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.3% of Capital Advantage Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Capital Advantage Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 73,945 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,229,000 after acquiring an additional 5,231 shares during the period. SMART Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 14,580 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,397,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. SK Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,304,000. Penney Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Penney Financial LLC now owns 7,852 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its holdings in Apple by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 11,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,882,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% 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 valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $198.42 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $202.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.66. The company has a market capitalization 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

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

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company 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 an increase 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 dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Scotiabank cut Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

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.