Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,685 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.8% of Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its holdings in Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $85,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $196.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.46. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.