Total Wealth Planning LLC Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Total Wealth Planning LLC decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,139 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 688 shares during the quarter. Total Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at Apple

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.27.

Apple Stock Down 1.2%

Apple 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. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

About Apple

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.