Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Annex Advisory Services LLC

Annex Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 194,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,531 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.2% of Annex Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $33,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,766 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.5% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 426,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $73,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,283 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its position in Apple by 34.1% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 24,286 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,290,000 after purchasing an additional 6,173 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 128,363 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,977,000 after purchasing an additional 8,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 647.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 81,174 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,899,000 after purchasing an additional 70,308 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 247,087 shares of company stock valued at $44,016,111. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $210.62 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $192.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.31. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.