Graybill Wealth Management LTD. Sells 535 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Graybill Wealth Management LTD. decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 63,117 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 535 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.6% of Graybill Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Graybill Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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 during the period. 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 during the period. 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 during the period. 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 during the period. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $2,942,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $221.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.85. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $221.55. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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 plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given 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 yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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.