Partners in Financial Planning Takes $1.63 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Partners in Financial Planning bought a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,527 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,634,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Everstar Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC now owns 3,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 1,670,536 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $418,336,000 after buying an additional 197,778 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 135.3% in the fourth quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,052 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,774,000 after buying an additional 15,554 shares in the last quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 219.5% in the fourth quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,791 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,958,000 after acquiring an additional 16,345 shares during the period. Finally, Bullseye Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $352,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.02.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $203.92 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $201.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.12.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.