Altus Wealth Group LLC Buys 89 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Altus Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.5% of Altus Wealth Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Altus Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $195.27 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.94. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board 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 purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Company 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.