Roble Belko & Company Inc Increases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc’s holdings in Apple were worth $646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $214.10 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $190.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.14. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Company 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.