Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,390 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,351,000. Apple makes up about 0.7% of Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 282,390 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $70,716,000 after buying an additional 4,550 shares during the last quarter. CV Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. CV Advisors LLC now owns 84,570 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $21,178,000 after acquiring an additional 30,993 shares during the period. Ninepoint Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 5,511 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the period. Tumwater Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,287,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 875,674 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $219,286,000 after acquiring an additional 77,170 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Apple stock traded up $0.91 on Thursday, hitting $201.33. 11,638,749 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,057,477. The company has a fifty day moving average of $204.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $225.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.