Riverwater Partners LLC Purchases 1,854 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Key Points

• Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. by 67.9% in the first quarter, now holding 4,585 shares valued at over $1 million.
• Apple reported $1.65 earnings per share for its most recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenues of $95.36 billion.
• The company has authorized a $100 billion stock repurchase program, indicating a belief that its shares are undervalued.

Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 67.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,585 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,854 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $1,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America restated 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 note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.94.

Apple Trading Down 0.1%

AAPL stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $208.82. The stock had a trading volume of 13,029,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,191,012. The company's 50-day moving average price is $205.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.16. 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 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.