Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Acquires 3,676 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,357 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 3,676 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $15,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp lifted its position in Apple by 10.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $5,272,653,000 after buying an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd 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 boosted its position in Apple by 25,285.2% during 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 buying an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 0.1%

AAPL traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $211.26. 53,614,750 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,938,270. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $206.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.68. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% 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 valued at $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.