MBA Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

MBA Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,521 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 840 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.1% of MBA Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. MBA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.60.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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 directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of AAPL opened at $226.01 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $211.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.15. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.