Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC Acquires 330 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 143,337 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 4.2% of Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management increased its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation increased its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.0 %

Apple stock opened at $184.57 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 target price (up from $189.00) on shares of Apple 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 set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.