Capital Wealth Alliance LLC Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 9th, 2023

Capital Wealth Alliance LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 37.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,918 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,895 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 1.6% of Capital Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Capital Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cassia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,009 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $3,148,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $563,000. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 105,200 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,072,000 after buying an additional 4,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Planning & Information Services Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Planning & Information Services Inc. now owns 11,344 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 57.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total transaction of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares in the company, valued at $78,253,004.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total value of $32,984.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 177,657 shares in the company, valued at $29,299,192.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 187,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.76, for a total transaction of $29,991,744.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,253,004.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 435,437 shares of company stock worth $70,994,677. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.0 %

Apple stock opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.17 and a twelve month high of $176.15.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $94.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.84 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.97% and a net margin of 24.49%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Apple in a research report on Sunday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $199.00 price target for the company. Raymond James reduced their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $180.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.29.

Apple Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.