M. Kraus & Co Sells 456 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

M. Kraus & Co lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.5% of M. Kraus & Co’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. M. Kraus & Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 11.8% during the fourth 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 period. Headinvest LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 132.8% during the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup dropped their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.38.

Apple Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $207.49 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $187.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.75. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued 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. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.