Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. Has $4.24 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.9% of Cascade Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.39.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $201.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.53.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

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.