Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 182,405 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,931 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.6% of Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $38,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,782,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.62.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $220.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $223.09 and a 200 day moving average of $197.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.