Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 9,293 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 151,551 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 9,293 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 5.1% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $37,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Amara Financial LLC. purchased a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its stake in Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $87,501,000 after acquiring an additional 34,414 shares during the last quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $7.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $205.35. The stock had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 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. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business's fifty day moving average is $212.15 and its 200-day moving average is $228.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company 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%. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

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.