Forum Financial Management LP Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 312,414 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 7,937 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.3% of Forum Financial Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Forum Financial Management LP's holdings in Apple were worth $78,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $24,566,054,000 after buying an additional 3,156,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,290,044 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $14,847,413,000 after purchasing an additional 674,991 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James dropped their target price 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, KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $196.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $201.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.10. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, 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 sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.

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