Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC Has $1.88 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 34.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,943 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,742 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.7% of Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $560,388,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $214.29 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.57. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $220.20. The company has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple 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 in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.06.

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.