Wealthspire Advisors LLC Acquires 24,823 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 462,148 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after acquiring an additional 24,823 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 1.2% of Wealthspire Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Wealthspire Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $115,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,411,260,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday. Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value 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. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. The trade was 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 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock traded down $7.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $205.35. The company had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be 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 is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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

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.