Strategic Financial Partners Ltd. grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 41.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after buying an additional 1,697 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Partners Ltd.'s holdings in Apple were worth $1,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 25,285.2% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after buying an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.80.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Apple
Apple Stock Performance
NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $200.87. 23,468,951 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,129,072. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company's 50 day moving average price is $204.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple Increases Dividend
The company 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 is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.
Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Insider Buying and Selling at Apple
In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Apple Profile
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Free Report)
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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