Unified Investment Management Makes New Investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,167 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,045,000. Apple accounts for 2.3% of Unified Investment Management's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 25,285.2% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,411,260,000 after buying an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $212.33. The stock had a trading volume of 49,235,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,017,431. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $207.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.80.

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.