Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Acquired by FCF Advisors LLC

FCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 151,994 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,071 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 6.5% of FCF Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. FCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $26,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $216.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Melius Research upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $210.62 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $220.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $192.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.46. The company has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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 presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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

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.