Lunt Capital Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lunt Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 30.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,747 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Lunt Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management increased its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation increased its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.44.

Apple Stock Up 1.7 %

AAPL traded up $3.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $189.98. The company had a trading volume of 36,326,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,436,576. The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $175.89 and a 200-day moving average of $183.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,270 shares of company stock valued at $64,605,696 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.