Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.

Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,631 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 11,318 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.3% of Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.'s holdings in Apple were worth $6,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 25,281 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,335,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the first quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 66,178 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $11,103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,286 shares in the last quarter. Kwmg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 10,640 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA grew its holdings in Apple by 111.9% during the first quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA now owns 19,121 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,279,000 after purchasing an additional 10,099 shares during the period. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 9.1% during the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,841 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. DA Davidson raised Apple from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.71.

Apple Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $3.52 on Tuesday, reaching $220.27. 57,977,103 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 65,138,656. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $193.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.44. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Apple

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.