Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Ibex Wealth Advisors’ 2nd Largest Position

Ibex Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,618 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,250 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.0% of Ibex Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $30,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was 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 Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $211.16 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $203.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $217.41. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.27.

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.