Carret Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 332,264 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,765 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 9.1% of Carret Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Carret Asset Management LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $83,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 515,494 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $120,110,000 after purchasing an additional 9,628 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 205,177 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $47,806,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 4,294 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. First Long Island Investors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 163,068 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $37,995,000 after purchasing an additional 77,914 shares during the period. Finally, Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 36,291 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,456,000 after acquiring an additional 8,045 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reiterated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

View Our Latest Analysis on Apple

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $195.27 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $205.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

(Free Report)

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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