Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA Acquires 7,908 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 44.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,829 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 7,908 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 4.7% of Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA's holdings in Apple were worth $6,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Connor Financial Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,235,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,178,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Citigroup reissued a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 5th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.02.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded up $3.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $203.77. 23,305,778 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,992,980. 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 current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $201.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.35.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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.