American Asset Management Inc. Boosts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

American Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,981 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 0.9% of American Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. American Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its stake in Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 70.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 27.7% in the third quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $132,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $172.15 and its 200 day moving average is $181.57. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 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 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.72.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Company 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.