Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,874 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 788 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 1.9% of Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Maxim Group started coverage on Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $209.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $187.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.