Milestone Asset Management Group LLC Buys Shares of 19,726 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Milestone Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 19,726 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,940,000. Apple accounts for 4.4% of Milestone Asset Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $201.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $202.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change 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 0.52%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.

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