Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Trimmed by Morton Capital Management LLC CA

Morton Capital Management LLC CA decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 395 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 3.3% of Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management grew its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of 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 has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day moving average of $185.40. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.