Clear Point Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Clear Point Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,427 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 391 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.3% of Clear Point Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Clear Point Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.94.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $213.88 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $204.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $214.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.