Fulcrum Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Fulcrum Capital LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 149,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 10,523 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 7.4% of Fulcrum Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Fulcrum Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $33,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $201.56 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $202.44 and its 200-day moving average is $220.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.