Quantum Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 496 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.8% of Quantum Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $10,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its position in Apple by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 249,461 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,710,000 after purchasing an additional 10,955 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Apple by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,020,415 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $174,705,000 after purchasing an additional 21,458 shares during the period. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 535,030 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $91,603,000 after purchasing an additional 26,218 shares during the period. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 1,488 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. now owns 39,969 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,843,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded up $3.02 on Friday, hitting $224.57. 23,361,467 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 64,584,953. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $196.30 and its 200 day moving average is $186.10. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $225.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. Company 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.