Altrius Capital Management Inc Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 46.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,285 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc's holdings in Apple were worth $1,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 10.1% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $87,501,000 after buying an additional 34,414 shares during the period. 5th Street Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 32.9% during the third quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,518,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank increased its stake in Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,972,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $197.49 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $208.83 and a 200 day moving average of $227.64. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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