Mather Group LLC. Acquires 23,926 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 11.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 230,437 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,926 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.6% of Mather Group LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $51,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during 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 during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $217.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, China Renaissance assumed coverage on Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price for the company. Two equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.60.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

AAPL stock opened at $231.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.14. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

About Apple

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.