BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC Invests $7.33 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,895 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $7,331,000. Apple makes up about 3.4% of BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents 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, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $201.00. 95,792,149 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $202.35 and a 200 day moving average of $221.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.