Lynch & Associates IN Decreases Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lynch & Associates IN trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,418 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,317 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.8% of Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $207.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.87. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.