Pollock Investment Advisors LLC Invests $1.92 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Pollock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,915,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.6% of Pollock Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Apple from $236.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Down 3.0%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $195.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.94. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Apple

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.