McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 7.4% during the first quarter, bringing its total shares to 23,195, valued at $5,152,000.
• Insider Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock at an average price of $223.20, representing a 20.30% decrease in her holdings.
• Apple's recent earnings report showed a 9.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $94.04 billion, surpassing analysts' estimates, with an EPS of $1.57.

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,195 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.8% of McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $5,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays raised their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.98.

Apple Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Apple stock traded up $2.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $227.76. 42,431,176 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 61,854,304. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $212.52 and a 200-day moving average of $212.96. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Apple

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.