Martin Worley Group Purchases Shares of 6,492 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Martin Worley Group acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,492 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,626,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $198.84. 14,546,869 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,449,083. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business's 50-day moving average price is $200.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.60.

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 for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased 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. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.86.

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.