Aspiriant LLC Acquires 44,351 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aspiriant LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 14.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 344,493 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 44,351 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.7% of Aspiriant LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Aspiriant LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $76,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its position in Apple by 3,368.2% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.94.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $0.17 on Monday, reaching $214.05. The stock had a trading volume of 37,786,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 47,818,408. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm's 50-day moving average is $204.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.