Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Sells 7,197 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 138,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,197 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.1% of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Define Financial LLC increased its stake in Apple by 278.3% in the first quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 16.5% in the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 339,344 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $75,379,000 after purchasing an additional 48,058 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 40,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,002,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Echo45 Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Echo45 Advisors LLC now owns 9,149 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.8% in the first quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 19,396 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $203.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $216.50. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.36 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.