HM Payson & Co. Has $287.02 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

HM Payson & Co. reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,673,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 55,530 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.3% of HM Payson & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $287,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 132.8% in the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $4,782,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 188,884 shares of company stock valued at $38,092,387 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $226.84 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.44. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. StockNews.com upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.63.

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.