Robbins Farley Purchases 55 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Robbins Farley increased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,837 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 2.7% of Robbins Farley’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Robbins Farley’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.02 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $204.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.12. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis 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 currently 16.20%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. KeyCorp upgraded Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.