SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. Sells 2,241 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 254,250 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,241 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 9.0% of SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $43,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup lowered their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.38.

Apple Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $207.49 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $220.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.75.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.