Leicht Financial Planning & Wealth Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Leicht Financial Planning & Wealth Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 202 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 0.9% of Leicht Financial Planning & Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Leicht Financial Planning & Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s 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 owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. 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 report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays set a $173.00 price target on Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $213.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple Company 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.