True North Advisors LLC Sells 5,188 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

True North Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,188 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 6.2% of True North Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $22,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $192.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.