Stiles Financial Services Inc Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Stiles Financial Services Inc lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,649 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 727 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.7% of Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $968,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,387,000. Optas LLC boosted its position in Apple by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 68,280 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,146,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares during the period. Williams & Novak LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $1,981,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,262,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $243,151,000 after acquiring an additional 443,462 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $183.38 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 153.25% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.93%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Redburn Partners lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.11.

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.