Successful Portfolios LLC Has $4.54 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Successful Portfolios LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,429 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.1% of Successful Portfolios LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Successful Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 13th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $213.36 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.44. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.