SPC Financial Inc. Purchases 13,161 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SPC Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,415 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 13,161 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.5% of SPC Financial Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. SPC Financial Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $17,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 5.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 25,285.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

Apple stock traded down $0.88 on Thursday, hitting $211.45. 43,910,127 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,930,688. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $206.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.99. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price objective (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.