Steph & Co. Has $2.51 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Steph & Co. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,317 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 302 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.9% of Steph & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.25.

Apple Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $202.92 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $205.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Apple 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.