Legacy Financial Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 10,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,850,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 7.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 53,594 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,176,000 after purchasing an additional 3,726 shares during the last quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 510.0% during the third quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 23,796 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after purchasing an additional 19,895 shares during the last quarter. Hartline Investment Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 282,681 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $48,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.6% during the third quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 14,256 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,004,412 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,028,015,000 after acquiring an additional 23,997 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $207.49 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given 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 (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated 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 purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.