Kelly Financial Services LLC Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kelly Financial Services LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 57 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.3% of Kelly Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Kelly Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.50. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company 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 data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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 share repurchase program 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 programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 13th. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

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.