Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Bought by Lantz Financial LLC

Lantz Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,390 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.5% of Lantz Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Lantz Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services grew its position in shares of Apple by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services now owns 73,725 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,642,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 194,179 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $32,946,000 after buying an additional 1,179 shares during the period. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC now owns 11,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,012,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 287,242 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,256,000 after buying an additional 3,118 shares during the period. Finally, Thomasville National Bank grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 293,179 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $50,274,000 after buying an additional 1,346 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Down 1.0 %

AAPL opened at $207.49 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.