Baker Chad R Has $43.40 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Baker Chad R reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 195,384 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,090 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 8.8% of Baker Chad R’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Baker Chad R’s holdings in Apple were worth $43,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. 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. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.27.

Apple Stock Up 0.2%

Apple stock opened at $209.11 on Wednesday. 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 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 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $203.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $216.45.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’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 directly 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 sale 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 dated 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 owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $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 corporate insiders.

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.