Charles Schwab Trust Co Sells 60,712 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Charles Schwab Trust Co cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 71.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,983 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 60,712 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $196.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

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.