Accordant Advisory Group Inc Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 35.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,604 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 0.3% of Accordant Advisory Group Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Accordant Advisory Group Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp lifted its position in Apple by 3,368.2% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after acquiring an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Apple by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $192,700,000 after acquiring an additional 83,997 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $203.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $216.50. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays set a $173.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value 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 trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.