Illumine Investment Management LLC Takes $5.91 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Illumine Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 23,589 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $5,907,000. Apple accounts for approximately 4.9% of Illumine Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. 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 valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Apple by 25,285.2% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,411,260,000 after buying an additional 9,590,933 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $198.53. The stock had a trading volume of 36,406,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,072,491. The business's 50 day moving average is $208.09 and its 200-day moving average is $227.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

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.