Vest Financial LLC Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 44.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,749 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 83,423 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.9% of Vest Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $60,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank cut Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.92 on Friday, reaching $213.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,955,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,594,994. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. The stock's 50-day moving average is $203.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.