Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 9,293 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 151,551 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,293 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.1% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $37,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,943,000. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 17,818 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,462,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Partners boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Stevens Capital Partners now owns 10,969 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405 shares during the last quarter. Allodium Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $228,000. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 111,982 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,043,000 after acquiring an additional 9,837 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $205.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.63. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James reduced their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered 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. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.25.

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.