Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 251,106 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 21,638 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.0% of Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $43,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,744 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,453 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 77,383 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 25,281 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,335,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 66,178 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $220.27 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $193.14 and its 200 day moving average is $185.44. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.