Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. Purchases Shares of 30,722 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 30,722 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $7,693,000. Apple accounts for approximately 4.3% of Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 5th. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $200.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,638,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,075,115. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $204.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in 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 often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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.