Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Maryland Capital Advisors Inc.

Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.8% of Maryland Capital Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 176,876 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $30,283,000 after purchasing an additional 22,428 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 137,396 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,523,000 after purchasing an additional 7,706 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,942,735 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $332,616,000 after purchasing an additional 20,478 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 176,570 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $30,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 65,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,257,000 after acquiring an additional 12,471 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup decreased their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.46.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $209.07 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $189.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.94. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $220.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.25. 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 announced 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. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Apple

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.