Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 400,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 2.5% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $100,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of AAPL opened at $203.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $202.29 and a 200 day moving average of $224.69. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company 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%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $0.26 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

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.