Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is ABLE Financial Group LLC's 6th Largest Position

ABLE Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,446 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.3% of ABLE Financial Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. ABLE Financial Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $11,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $201.00. The stock had a trading volume of 95,792,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $202.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.56. 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 $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Apple

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.