Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 27,906 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 401,200 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 27,906 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 5.3% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Apple were worth $68,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Diversified LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 46,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,045,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 125,861 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,549,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $164,163,000. Channing Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 14,776 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,530,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 105.4% in the 3rd quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 42,152 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,217,000 after acquiring an additional 21,633 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.06.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $214.29 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $220.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $185.62 and a 200 day moving average of $184.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

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. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.