Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. Has $1.49 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,713 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 481 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.1% of Braun Bostich & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $210.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.27.

Apple Stock Down 1.2%

AAPL opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $203.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The company 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 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. 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 currently 16.20%.

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

Insider Activity

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

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.