Lazari Capital Management Inc. Has $30.16 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,653 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 22,662 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 17.3% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,519,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.6% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 38,579,495 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,605,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,576 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $212.49. The company had a trading volume of 70,122,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 64,600,812. The business’s 50-day moving average is $183.77 and its 200-day moving average is $184.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $207.47.

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.