Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Merit Financial Group LLC's 5th Largest Position

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 669,867 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 57,835 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.2% of Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $148,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.95.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $2.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $207.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 78,634,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,588,359. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 2.29 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $202.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.53. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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 is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. 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. Apple's payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.