Everhart Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,728 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,913 shares during the period. Apple makes up 5.6% of Everhart Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Everhart Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in Apple by 12.8% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 4.2% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after purchasing an additional 3,935 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in Apple by 10.1% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 375,539 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $87,501,000 after purchasing an additional 34,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 5th Street Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 32.9% in the third quarter. 5th Street Advisors LLC now owns 15,100 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,518,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Apple from $325.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.85.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

AAPL stock opened at $196.79 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $219.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.77 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.