JPL Wealth Management LLC Invests $12.89 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 51,474 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $12,890,000. Apple makes up approximately 3.7% of JPL Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,285.2% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,411,260,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 3.0%

Apple stock opened at $195.27 on Friday. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $205.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.92. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

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

Apple Company 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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