Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 52.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,947 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 20,174 shares during the quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $14,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $96,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $235.80.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on AAPL
Apple Trading Up 1.0%
Shares of Apple stock traded up $2.14 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $212.93. 51,637,380 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,107,660. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock's fifty day moving average is $207.59 and its 200 day moving average is $227.19.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.
Apple declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Apple Profile
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Free Report)
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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