Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC Grows Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 26.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 99,687 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,999 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 3.3% of Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after buying an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $487,435,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Apple by 6.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $182.74 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62. The stock has a 50-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 quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 price objective (up from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’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 value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.