Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by Sound Stewardship LLC

Sound Stewardship LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,476 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Sound Stewardship LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group set a $210.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays set a $173.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $210.16 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $204.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider 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. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.