Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Lessened by Charles Schwab Trust Co

Charles Schwab Trust Co trimmed its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 71.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,983 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 60,712 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Maxim Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, 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 worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $192.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $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 earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication 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.