Quad Cities Investment Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quad Cities Investment Group LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,263 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,371 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 7.0% of Quad Cities Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its stake in Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $210.62 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month 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 200 day simple moving average of $185.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 247,087 shares of company stock worth $44,016,111 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.