Seizert Capital Partners LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Seizert Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,479 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 10,011 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.2% of Seizert Capital Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Seizert Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $49,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $24,566,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156,680 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $21,335,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.19 on Friday, reaching $211.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 53,614,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,997,127. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $206.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.67. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple 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.