BigSur Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BigSur Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,327 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,600 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.7% of BigSur Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. BigSur Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 3.7% during 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 last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 23,555.4% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $210.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.12.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company 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 for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 note on Tuesday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.