Retirement Planning Group LLC NY Purchases New Shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Retirement Planning Group LLC NY acquired a new stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,412 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,000. Apple makes up about 2.6% of Retirement Planning Group LLC NY’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 3,775 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,178,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,992,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $196.58 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.30.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $170.62 price target (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

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.