EP Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,049,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 24,497 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.2% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $513,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS grew its position in Apple by 7.6% during the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 73,945 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,229,000 after buying an additional 5,231 shares during the period. SMART Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 14,580 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,397,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. SK Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $3,304,000. Penney Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Penney Financial LLC now owns 7,852 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,829,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 11,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,882,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.86.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $198.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, 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. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $202.28 and its 200 day moving average is $222.66.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.