Columbia Advisory Partners LLC Has $912,000 Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Columbia Advisory Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,320 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 270 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.9% of Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $216.75 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its 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. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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 was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average 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.