Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Purchased by Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.

Key Points

• Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 18.3% in the first quarter, bringing their total holdings to $7.63 million worth of stock, which makes up approximately 2.6% of their portfolio.
• Apple's recent earnings report showed a profit of $1.57 per share, exceeding expectations and revealing a revenue of $94.04 billion, a 9.6% increase year-over-year.
• The company has approved a $100 billion share buyback plan, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation, alongside a recently declared quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share.

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,307 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 5,784 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.6% of Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.'s holdings in Apple were worth $7,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.9810 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $229.9090. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,787,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,647,684. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $210.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is 15.78%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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.