Bravias Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,032 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,840,000. Apple makes up about 2.3% of Bravias Capital Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.
Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,178,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Wedbush cut Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James cut their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.80.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Apple
Apple Price Performance
AAPL traded down $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $212.33. 49,235,970 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,017,431. The company's 50-day moving average is $207.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $227.09. The company has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G 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 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.
Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
About Apple
(
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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