Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 25,604 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 325,971 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 25,604 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.9% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $55,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Flagstone Financial Management boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the first quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 17,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Melius Research increased their price objective on Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.71.

Apple Stock Up 0.6 %

AAPL opened at $221.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $195.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $221.55.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock worth $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.