Wolf Group Capital Advisors Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wolf Group Capital Advisors trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,604 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,400 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.1% of Wolf Group Capital Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Wolf Group Capital Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $6,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cassia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,009 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $3,148,000. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 2,340,129 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $304,053,000 after buying an additional 115,929 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at $563,000. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 105,200 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,072,000 after buying an additional 4,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $172.99 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.17 and a 12-month high of $176.39. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.42 and a 200 day moving average of $151.40.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. Apple had a net margin of 24.49% and a return on equity of 165.72%. The business had revenue of $94.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.30%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $145.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.74.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 56,072 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.17, for a total value of $9,261,412.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $541,766,188.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 56,072 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.17, for a total value of $9,261,412.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $541,766,188.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total transaction of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares in the company, valued at $78,253,004.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 439,529 shares of company stock worth $71,703,657. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Company Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.