Defined Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Defined Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.7% of Defined Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Defined Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 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. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of AAPL opened at $210.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change 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%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Tigress Financial increased 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 increased their price objective 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. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.27.

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.