West Tower Group LLC Buys 2,000 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

West Tower Group LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 400.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.4% of West Tower Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. West Tower Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $199.01. 70,744,759 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,229,633. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business's fifty day moving average is $203.10 and its 200-day moving average is $225.00.

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

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple Company 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.