Goldstone Financial Group LLC Grows Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 25.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,977 shares during the quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.8% in the first quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Allstate Corp grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 438,471 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 83,997 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the 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 owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Tigress Financial boosted 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. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.11.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. 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. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.20%.

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.