West Coast Financial LLC Sells 675 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

West Coast Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 161,315 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 675 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 3.4% of West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 247,087 shares of company stock valued at $44,016,111 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Melius Research upped their price target on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.31. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $220.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.56 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share 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 purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost 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 is presently 15.55%.

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.