Wealth Effects LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wealth Effects LLC boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 95,838 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,779 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 6.9% of Wealth Effects LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value 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 through the SEC website. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

AAPL stock opened at $182.40 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $172.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.