Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. Buys 2,597 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,854 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.4% of Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C.'s holdings in Apple were worth $7,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Apple by 25,285.2% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 9,628,864 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,411,260,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $211.26. 53,614,750 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,938,270. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. 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 market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company's fifty day moving average is $206.09 and its 200-day moving average is $226.68.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.