McCollum Christoferson Group LLC Has $16.93 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

McCollum Christoferson Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 98,699 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,938 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 4.9% of McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. grew its holdings in Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $230.54 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $233.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.52.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication 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.