Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 854,070 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,484 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 4.8% of Parallel Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $213,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 3,208,608 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $803,500,000 after purchasing an additional 366,332 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 340,745 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $85,329,000 after buying an additional 46,906 shares in the last quarter. Yardley Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Yardley Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $663,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $817,000. Finally, Signature Wealth Management Group lifted its stake in Apple by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 9,315 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,333,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, May 12th. 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 given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 3.0%

AAPL opened at $195.27 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.71.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’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 transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 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.