Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is CRA Financial Services LLC’s Largest Position

CRA Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 202,756 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 7.7% of CRA Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $45,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.1%

AAPL stock opened at $210.02 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.11.

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.