6,061 Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Acquired by Lesa Sroufe & Co

Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,061 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,346,000. Apple accounts for approximately 1.3% of Lesa Sroufe & Co's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 13th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.94.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $213.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 38,805,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,464,392. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $204.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. 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 posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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.