Partners Wealth Management LLC Invests $6.44 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Partners Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 25,734 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $6,444,000. Apple comprises 7.3% of Partners Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $288,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its stake in shares of Apple by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $87,501,000 after purchasing an additional 34,414 shares during the period. 5th Street Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 132,641 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 3.7 %

AAPL traded down $7.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $205.35. 100,891,435 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors 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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Moffett Nathanson restated a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.25.

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.