Steph & Co. Buys 458 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,645 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Apple comprises 0.7% of Steph & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $560,388,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

AAPL opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.46.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign 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.