Apple Inc. $AAPL is Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s 4th Largest Position

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 3.0% of Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,523,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $113,062,000 after buying an additional 438,471 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.98.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $224.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $211.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $213.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.