Signature Resources Capital Management LLC Sells 403 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Signature Resources Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,977 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.6% of Signature Resources Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

AAPL opened at $210.16 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $204.07 and a 200-day moving average of $216.41. The stock 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.