Sterling Manor Financial LLC Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sterling Manor Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,002 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,299 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.6% of Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 118.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 70.2% during the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. grew its position in Apple by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $132,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.00.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

Apple stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.60. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last 90 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.