Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Has $3.49 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,715 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.11.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’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 owned 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $212.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $204.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.41. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.