Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $249.84 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 33.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 997,698 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 250,334 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 2.6% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $249,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

AAPL traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $196.58. 45,342,877 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,338,522. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $202.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $222.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management 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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Sunday, June 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.86.

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.