Ellenbecker Investment Group Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ellenbecker Investment Group cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 36,661 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 530 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.3% of Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 12,693 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,173,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 55,586 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,517,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. West Coast Financial LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 150,997 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $25,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 323,629 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $55,409,000 after acquiring an additional 7,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $831,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 quarter, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $207.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $187.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.87. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy 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 shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.38.

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.