SwitchPoint Financial Planning LLC Purchases New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

SwitchPoint Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,000. Apple makes up approximately 1.1% of SwitchPoint Financial Planning LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,777,000. M.D. Sass LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 36.6% during the third quarter. M.D. Sass LLC now owns 17,900 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,171,000 after buying an additional 4,800 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital Management boosted its holdings in Apple by 20.5% during the third quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 45,114 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,512,000 after buying an additional 7,662 shares in the last quarter. NCP Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.7% during the third quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 19,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,516,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 36.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 872,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $203,328,000 after buying an additional 235,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $202.82 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $201.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.54. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Company 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.