Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC’s Largest Position

S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,893 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,356 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 7.1% of S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. R. W. Roge & Company Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. R. W. Roge & Company Inc. now owns 19,882 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,827,000 after buying an additional 1,013 shares in the last quarter. Randolph Co Inc raised its stake in Apple by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Randolph Co Inc now owns 2,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 19,635 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,780,000 after buying an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 3,082 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kendall Capital Management raised its stake in Apple by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 20,318 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,912,000 after buying an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.11.

Insider Transactions 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 transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $172.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.