Means Investment CO. Inc. Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Means Investment CO. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 321,481 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 44,563 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.6% of Means Investment CO. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $71,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average 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 current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.38. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business 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 posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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.