Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Variant Private Wealth LLC

Variant Private Wealth LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,571 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 130 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 9.4% of Variant Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Variant Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $212.48 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $204.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $215.41. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management 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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.