Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Prentice Wealth Management LLC

Prentice Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,888 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,562 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.3% of Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the first 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 last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Apple by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $192,700,000 after acquiring an additional 83,997 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.11.

Apple Stock Up 0.6%

AAPL opened at $211.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $204.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.85. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.