Accredited Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,528 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,386,000. Apple comprises approximately 2.1% of Accredited Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at about $71,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their target price 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded up $0.94 on Wednesday, hitting $196.58. 45,342,877 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,338,522. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business's fifty day moving average is $202.17 and its 200 day moving average is $222.30. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22.

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 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 net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.