Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires 29,021 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,172,290 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 29,021 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 4.8% of Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $543,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the third 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 valued at $21,335,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group cut their target price on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush downgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reduced their price target 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. Finally, China Renaissance initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of AAPL traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $212.33. 49,235,970 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,017,507. The business has a 50 day moving average of $207.14 and a 200 day moving average of $227.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for 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 was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

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 issued 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 of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Apple

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.