Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC Has $23.17 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 104,302 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 2.4% of Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $23,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased 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 valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased 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 valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 directly owned 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays set a $173.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.11.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $213.76. 45,923,891 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 49,703,220. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock's fifty day moving average is $204.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.96. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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.