Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Ervin Investment Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Ervin Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,069 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,577 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.8% of Ervin Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Ervin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,948,008 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $333,518,000 after buying an additional 186,290 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Advisors grew its position in Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 287,952 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,300,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the period. Carson Advisory Inc. grew its position in Apple by 4.5% during the third quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 23,267 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,983,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Truefg LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.4% during the third quarter. Truefg LLC now owns 5,728 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $981,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the period. Finally, Davidson Investment Advisors grew its position in Apple by 2.2% during the third quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 368,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $63,089,000 after buying an additional 7,788 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $221.55 on Friday. The firm 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $221.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $195.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.85.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

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

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.