Chokshi & Queen Wealth Advisors Inc Purchases New Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Chokshi & Queen Wealth Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 89,690 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $22,460,000. Apple makes up approximately 13.9% of Chokshi & Queen Wealth Advisors Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp raised Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $4.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $201.00. The company had a trading volume of 95,792,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,610,148. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.56.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.