Kiker Wealth Management LLC Invests $877,000 in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Kiker Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,502 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $877,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.3% during the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,099,411 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $24,566,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,156,680 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 91,568,390 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $21,335,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,087 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.57 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $203.27. The stock had a trading volume of 46,332,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,131,611. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $202.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.69. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 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.

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

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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.