Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Buckingham Capital Management Inc.

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 21.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 50,973 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 14,018 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.3% of Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 5,768 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 1,202 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,053 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,071,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 942 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.95% of the company’s stock.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $297.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $360.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $303.38.

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 41,062 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.44, for a total transaction of $10,858,435.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 65,427 shares in the company, valued at $17,301,515.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,491 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.62, for a total transaction of $1,372,539.42. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,419.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 95,752 shares of company stock worth $24,750,125. 0.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Shares of Apple stock opened at $318.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1,396.56 billion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $294.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.50. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $170.27 and a 1 year high of $327.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $58.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 64.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 27.59%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. 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, HomePod, iPod touch, and other Apple-branded and third-party accessories.

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