Kathmere Capital Management LLC Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kathmere Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 54,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,522 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.3% of Kathmere Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Kathmere Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Apple by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after buying an additional 1,067,587 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.44. 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 current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.63.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 188,884 shares of company stock valued at $38,092,387. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.