IMG Wealth Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,264 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $817,000. Apple comprises 0.8% of IMG Wealth Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at $288,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,433,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.3%

AAPL stock traded down $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $199.40. 8,470,658 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,035,679. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $203.59 and a 200-day moving average of $225.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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. 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by 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.