GenWealth Group Inc. Acquires 1,301 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

GenWealth Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,301 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.5% of GenWealth Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. GenWealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Brand Asset Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the first quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 10,291 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,286,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,018 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,223,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.0% during the first quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 26,615 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benin Management CORP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the first quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 129,689 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,808,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.95.

Apple Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $207.82 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $203.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.