Alliance Wealth Management Group Increases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,808 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,331 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 2.1% of Alliance Wealth Management Group's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Alliance Wealth Management Group's holdings in Apple were worth $7,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Apple by 25,285.2% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Apple stock traded up $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $198.84. The company had a trading volume of 14,546,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,449,083. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $200.92 and a 200-day moving average of $223.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically 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 business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 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.