Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Purchases 2,593 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,593 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.9% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $12,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 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. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of AAPL traded down $1.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $212.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,409,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,441,782. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company's 50 day moving average is $203.35 and its 200 day moving average is $218.44.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors 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.