WESPAC Advisors LLC Has $4.18 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WESPAC Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.1% of WESPAC Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 232,665 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $54,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.1% in the third quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 164,452 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $38,317,000 after acquiring an additional 9,507 shares during the period. Finally, Boyd Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 3.0% in the third quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

Apple stock opened at $213.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $212.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.63.

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.