Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Cut by Saxony Capital Management LLC

Saxony Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,902 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,723 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.5% of Saxony Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Saxony Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.25.

Apple Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $213.12 on Thursday. 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 $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.24.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In related 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.