Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $210.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $204.32 and a 200-day moving average of $216.12. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year 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 company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm 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 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.11.

Apple Company 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.