Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Lessened by Atlas Private Wealth Advisors

Atlas Private Wealth Advisors cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,986 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,425 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.0% of Atlas Private Wealth Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $21,321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Apple Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of AAPL opened at $211.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $215.61.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in 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 often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital dropped their price target 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank cut Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.