Farther Finance Advisors LLC Has $109.09 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 79.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 488,752 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 215,804 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.8% of Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $109,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.27.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $1.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $211.16. 39,713,698 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,349,236. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $203.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.12. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple 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.