Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Position Increased by Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.

Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,451 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 3,219 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.6% of Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $8,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Loop Capital cut their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Apple Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.36. 34,955,836 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,594,994. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $218.86. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.