Armbruster Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Armbruster Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,107 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Armbruster Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% during 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 Apple by 4.6% during the fourth 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 period. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.8% during the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Allstate Corp grew its position in Apple by 3,368.2% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Apple by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $192,700,000 after purchasing an additional 83,997 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $210.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $204.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.12. 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.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $210.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.11.

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.