Willis Investment Counsel Lowers Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Willis Investment Counsel decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 97,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 13,170 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.5% of Willis Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Apple were worth $21,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $209.11 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $203.79 and a 200-day moving average of $216.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 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 released 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. 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. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.