JDM Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

JDM Financial Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,313 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 590 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 2.6% of JDM Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. JDM Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 524,466 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $131,337,000 after acquiring an additional 14,111 shares in the last quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,308 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,583,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC now owns 66,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,651,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 488,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $122,385,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $195.64 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $202.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.47. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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 repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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.