Noble Wealth Management PBC Takes $2.02 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,077 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,023,000. Apple accounts for approximately 1.4% of Noble Wealth Management PBC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $288,000. Vestcor Inc raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.1% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $87,501,000 after buying an additional 34,414 shares in the last quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the third quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,518,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares during the period. Simmons Bank grew its position in Apple by 1.6% during the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,905,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $4,972,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reissued a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, May 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Apple stock traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $198.53. 36,406,804 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,072,498. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $208.09 and its two-hundred day simple 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 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings 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 earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.