Kennicott Capital Management LLC Has $3.15 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kennicott Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,198 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.1% of Kennicott Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Kennicott Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $211.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.11.

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.