Tower Wealth Partners Inc. Has $1.89 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,456 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 520 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.6% of Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,995,750 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $221,753,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734,393 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after acquiring an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 282,749,817 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,671,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991,299 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 226,281,368 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $29,400,739,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,827 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Apple by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,110,586,000 after buying an additional 25,926,552 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. 58.com reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.86.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $2,753,216.64. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,363,619.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.9 %

AAPL opened at $187.65 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $186.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.17 and a twelve month high of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Apple had a net margin of 24.68% and a return on equity of 164.92%. The company had revenue of $81.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.13%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 4th that allows the company to repurchase $90.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.