AG Asset Advisory LLC Purchases Shares of 4,261 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

AG Asset Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,261 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.1% of AG Asset Advisory LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% 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 Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of AAPL traded up $4.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $201.00. 95,792,149 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

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.