Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $1.96 Million in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 10,168 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,958,000. Apple makes up about 2.1% of Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $216.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $220.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $184.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.19.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Maxim Group initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.47.

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.