Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Dover Advisors LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Dover Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 45.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 78,540 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 24,403 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 7.6% of Dover Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Dover Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $17,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm'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 sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This 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 Performance

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $211.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 48,647,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,145,744. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $204.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.85. 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 has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.11.

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.