BayBridge Capital Group LLC Sells 502 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BayBridge Capital Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,711 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 502 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 27,298 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,647 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after acquiring an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank cut Apple to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, China Renaissance initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.11.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $211.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $204.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.61. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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 $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase 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%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $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. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.