Wilmar Advisors LLC Invests $30.05 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wilmar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 120,000 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $30,050,000. Apple makes up approximately 27.8% of Wilmar Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.3% during the third 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 grew its position in 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 buying an additional 9,590,933 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Scotiabank lowered shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.04 on Friday, reaching $198.53. 36,406,804 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,093,894. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $208.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.36. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.