Appleton Partners Inc. MA Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 391,069 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 10,131 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 6.3% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Apple were worth $82,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the period. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,782,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $220.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.44.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,884 shares of company stock worth $38,092,387 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.63.

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.