Krilogy Financial LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Krilogy Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 221,633 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,789 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.2% of Krilogy Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Krilogy Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $49,231,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Allstate Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $192,700,000 after purchasing an additional 83,997 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

AAPL stock opened at $210.16 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $204.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $216.41. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction 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. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.