Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.

Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 21.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,631 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 11,318 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 2.3% of Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $192.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.31. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $220.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

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.