Financial Council Asset Management Inc Acquires 2,151 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Financial Council Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,571 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,151 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 6.3% of Financial Council Asset Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Financial Council Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after buying an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $560,388,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $487,435,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Apple by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 49,759,061 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,519,244,000 after buying an additional 2,826,709 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

AAPL stock opened at $184.57 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $172.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

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

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.11.

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.