Uniting Wealth Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Uniting Wealth Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,449 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 253 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.5% of Uniting Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $229.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $207.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.21. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.