Global Trust Asset Management LLC Has $8.68 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Global Trust Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,443 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.6% of Global Trust Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Global Trust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $560,388,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Melius Research upped their target price on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $210.62 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.