Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by GM Advisory Group LLC

GM Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 211,357 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,047 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 2.9% of GM Advisory Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. GM Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $52,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $192,700,000 after acquiring an additional 83,997 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.3% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Bank lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,433,000 after acquiring an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock traded up $0.85 on Monday, reaching $201.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 35,334,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,145,385. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $202.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.