Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Naviter Wealth LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Naviter Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,788 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 18,929 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 3.7% of Naviter Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Naviter Wealth LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $30,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded down $2.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $208.78. 45,304,005 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,954,362. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $206.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $226.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's 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.