Farrell Financial LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Farrell Financial LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 433 shares during the period. Apple comprises 5.2% of Farrell Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Farrell Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays set a $173.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.27.

Apple Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. 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 posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved 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 an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.